Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone hasn’t seen his team lose a home game since last year’s match against Barcelona in May.
Earlier today, though, the former defensive midfielder saw the Red and Whites fall to sixth-place Villarreal at Vicente Calderon in a 1-0 loss, but he believes the match concluded as plainly unfortunate event, saying the typical coaching response to a unpredicted defeat by ruing scoring opportunities.
“It was a committed game, with both teams having goal chances,” Simeone said, per ESPN FC. “If we had taken ours, we would have had a big chance to win the game.
The Argentine boss hinted to the fact that Atletico was susceptible to break that handed his squad a noteworthy defeat, with the Yellow Submarines execution a “great” counter attack. Young forward Luciano Vietto, who Simeone afforded a debut at the Primera Division’s Racing Club in 2011, fired home an 84th minute strike that capped the game-winning sequence.
“Then they settled it with a great counter-attack,” Simeone said. “This is an important loss for us, our first in [over] a year.”
He also indicated that complacency may have settled into the reigning league champs toward the end of the match, and this attitude could’ve very well contributed to their late collapse. However, he dished out credit to Villarreal, and, although they didn’t outshoot Atletico or have the majority of possession, capitalizing at the right time proved to be the difference.
“In the last 20 minutes we maybe lost our shape, thinking of the win,” he admitted. “But the team worked very well. We must just congratulate the opponent and prepare for our next game.”