Simeone satisfied as Atlético advance
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
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While Diego Simeone was pleased Club Atlético de Madrid seized the chance to reach the last 16, FK Austria Wien coach Nenad Bjelica admitted the victors were "too good".
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Diego Simeone, Atlético coach
I'm happy with the work of the team, because we took our opportunity to reach the first knockout round today. I'm satisfied because the team played a great match. We scored the first goal at the perfect time and so could ease off a little in the second half. Now we will play against two great teams in Zenit and Porto with an element of calm, because we don't have to fight to get through to the next round.
I'm very happy with the way we won. My players forgot the pressure to win and decided the issue in the first half. Josuha [Guilavogui] is settling into the team and is doing very well. It's always important to work on free-kicks in training and we profited from that preparation in this match.
In our next group games we can give playing time to other players because they deserve it. The team is growing, chances keep coming and that gives more opportunities for our forwards to score. We are taking things match by match in the Spanish Liga and we have the same philosophy in the UEFA Champions League, knowing our chances.
Nenad Bjelica, Austria coach
Atlético were simply too good for us today. It's a shame we conceded an early goal again and that we didn't make the most of one of our own chances. It's difficult to play against Atletico, they are a quality side.
We let in an early goal and that opened the doors for Atlético. They are three sizes bigger than us. We don't have their quality and it's not easy to compete against such an attacking team. I think they're real candidates to win the UEFA Champions League. They're going to have chances to win the trophy and I would like them to do that.
This competition will be won by the best side and Atlético are playing at a high level. They're going to fight till the end in their league and they could win the UEFA Champions League with some luck. Our goalkeeper [Heinz Lindner] played very well and prevented several goals. He is on his way to becoming Austria's best keeper.
We have to learn from these games. Only through hard work can we bring about a change of luck. However, I'm convinced we will not only score a goal in the upcoming matches, but will also collect some points.
