Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has heaped plaudits on his players despite their elimination from the UEFA Champions League.
Simeone’s side were held to a 0-0 draw by the Citizens in the second leg of their quarter-final tie at the Wanda Metropolitan on Wednesday night.
The Spanish side exited the competition 1-0 on aggregate.
“We want to win, however possible. So I’m gutted that we are out. But we’ve been beaten by an extraordinary rival. They normally score three or four and we’ve pushed them, conceded very few chances and we’ve blocked their brilliant associative play. We lacked the goal we needed, so we have to congratulate them for going through,”he said.
“I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do. Our fans were extraordinary, pushing the team on and then responding, in kind, by raising the noise still further once the team were close to winning. I’ve no doubt whatsoever that the fans will be proud of how we compete, that’s the key. However you do it, you compete. The only thing to emphasise is that we didn’t win – and that’s all that truly counts.
“Football has 1,000 faces.
“I’m not going to talk about how a rival has played against us. Football is about opinions. We play the way we want to; we faced possibly the best team in the world and we showed that we can compete. I’m not content, though, because it was all about winning and going to the semi-finals.”
