What Diego Simeone said after qualifying Atletico for the Champions League semi-finals: “If you don't attack, you lose”
Article by Tudor Belivacă – Published on Wednesday, 15 April 2026, 09:49 / Updated on Wednesday, 15 April 2026 09:49
Atletico Madrid advanced to the semi-finals of the Champions League on Tuesday after beating Barcelona with 3-2 on aggregate, in the double leg of the quarter-finals. After the match, Diego Simeone, the Madrid coach, gave a series of statements in which he also spoke about the future opponent.
Atletico Madrid will beat the winner of the “double” Sporting – Arsenal in the semi-final. “The Gunners” achieved a narrow victory in the round, score 1-0.
Diego Simeone reacts after qualifying Atletico Madrid for the Champions League semi-finals: “We worked hard”
“Arsenal or Sporting? It doesn't matter. We have to rest because we have a championship final on Saturday.
It's been 14 years since I've been here and to be honest, seeing the team compete like this still gives me a thrill. The players have changed, I've started over countless times and we are again among the top four teams in Europe.
We faced a team that plays exceptionally well, with incredible speed, difficult to control. We worked really hard after going 0-2 down after some individual errors. We managed to keep our composure, 1-2 was fantastic. The second half was more balanced,” said Diego Simeone, according to abola.pt.
“It could happen that we lose the lead, given how the comeback started. They are very good. When we make mistakes against teams like that, they don't forgive. We had to play, attack and impose our game.
Whenever we face them, we come to the conclusion that there is only one way to do it: by attacking. They had more possession this time, the previous match was more balanced. If you don't attack, you lose. They are very good in attack. We knew our opportunities.
In the King's Cup we had a good first game and then we had to suffer. In the first leg we took advantage of the important moments in our favor, the 2-0 advantage gave us peace of mind. The way Julián Alvarez and Griezmann ran, the work of Llorente, Molina, the exceptional performance of Ruggeri, the way the reserves came in… that gave us a lot of strength“, he also said.
It's wonderful. We walk with enthusiasm and faith. We know our strengths and weaknesses. We have a lot of faith, we are ready and we will go to find what we have been looking for for many years
–Diego Simeone
