Diego Simeone has a surprising take on Atletico Madrid’s defeat to Chelsea on Tuesday night.
Chelsea left Bucharest with a 1-0 ‘away’ win from the relocated Champions League Round of 16 first leg fixture, Olivier Giroud scoring a superb bicycle kick in the 68th minute.
The tie was a tight one but Thomas Tuchel‘s men did dominate for the most part but were left frustrated by Atletico’s organised approach, aside from that one moment of magic from Giroud which could prove the difference in the overall tie.
Chelsea now take an away goal and a lead back to Stamford Bridge for the second leg on March 17, but Atleti boss Simeone does not see that as a disaster by any means.
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He told Movistar after the game: “If you’d said to me in September that we’d lose this first leg 1-0 and be top of the league, I’d have taken it for sure.”
Atletico have now suffered back-to-back defeats after losing to Levante in La Liga last weekend, and they are three without a win having drawn with Levante in another La Liga clash with the Valencian club just days before.
They do remain top of La Liga, though, three points ahead of Real Madrid with a game in hand, and they are very much still in with a shout of progressing to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Both Simeone and Tuchel will be well aware the tie is not over, particularly with Chelsea losing Mason Mount and Jorginho ahead of the second leg next month.
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The two midfielders were given yellow cards during the first leg on Tuesday night which means they are suspended for the return leg at Stamford Bridge having reached the yellow card limit.
Ahead of that second leg, Atletico will likely be boosted by the return of key defender Jose Maria Gimenez, who was ruled out for this one with an injury suffered in that most recent clash with Levante.