Manager expects Hansi Flick’s side to make his team “suffer” in the return leg
Diego Simeone praised Atletico Madrid’s performance after his side secured a 2-0 win over Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, ending his 20-year wait for a first victory at Camp Nou.
Julian Alvarez opened the scoring just before halftime with a sublime free kick, shortly after Barcelona were reduced to 10 men following Pau Cubarsi’s red card. Substitute Alexander Sorloth added a second goal in the second half to give the Madrid side control of the tie.
The result was Simeone’s first win at Camp Nou as a coach, having previously recorded seven draws and 11 defeats at the stadium. Atletico’s last victory there came in 2006.
“It’s true we hadn’t ever won here at this stadium – It’s very difficult to do,” Simeone said. “[Barcelona] are maybe the best team in Europe with Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. We did good teamwork, we hurt them in important moments, and the second goal gave us more security. It’s a shame we couldn’t hurt them a bit more with the [man] advantage we had.”
The match was the second of three meetings between the teams in a 10-day span. Barcelona won their recent La Liga encounter 2-1 in Madrid, while the Champions League tie will be decided in the return leg at the Metropolitano next week.
“Football is great because being clinical is key, and today we were extremely clinical,” Simeone said. “We knew they play with a high line. We’re a team that have hurt them in almost every game we’ve played against them, we’ve always created chances and scored goals.
“It was hard, it’s not a coincidence they’d won 22 out of 23 games here [this season]. It’s a good result but they’re an opponent who will for sure make us suffer on Tuesday.”
