Giuliano Simeone left the field hailed as a hero when his father decided to replace him. The son of the Atlético coach was one of the great exponents that the resolution of a football match, sometimes, can be more emotional than tactical or technical. The red and white team overcame the failure that Leverkusen inflicted on them in the first half and the setback of having to face the second half with a goal against and one less player due to the expulsion of Pablo Barrios. Atlético was on the canvas and got up heroically. Exploding the seven lungs with which the Giuliano, Llorente, De Paul, or the great winner of the night, Julián Alvarez, to name a few, seemed to play.
Xabi Alonso was very clear that his team was defeated by the emotional load that Atlético used in the second half, “Something emotionally affects football a lot. As a result of the good play until the 55th minute, we were mentally well. With the tie we have not been able to recover. Atlético has taken a breath and taken the game to its own ground,” reasoned the Tolosa coach. “Coming to these fields requires giving a higher level, we have given an acceptable level, but not enough. They play with that way that they know in which the rival does not play. They have a lot of connection with the public and that is why this year they have achieved so many comebacks,” Alonso added.
Simeone’s analysis pointed to both the emotional aspect and the intelligence with which his players were used to take the game to their field. “In the first half the team did not play well, we could not make transitions, they took the ball away from us, they had a control of the game that took us away from the game we wanted to play. At half-time we talked and the players identified the game that had to be played. Being able to take advantage of everything that could happen and have offensive duels so that they don’t put us behind, the tie came, with 10 we controlled better than with 11 a team that plays great,” Simeone explained. “It appeared that it was already seen in other games, where humility, work, hierarchy, forcefulness, knowing how to suffer and interpreting how to play the games were seen. We were lucky to be strong. The match is one to remember and reflects that the history of the club is like this,” Simeone concluded.
“There are few who will sleep. It was an incredible match where pure Atlético de Madrid was experienced. The first half was not so good, we had to correct situations. The second half we were seeing who had a yellow card so we could face it and try to equalize the game. With that double yellow from Hincapié we could have been a little better. With the help of all the people we were able to move forward with the game, which was not easy at all,” stressed Giuliano Simeone.
