My Players Competed Against Powerful Arsenal – Diego Simeone

Atlético Madrid manager Diego Simeone has refused to blame the referee for his team’s Champions League semifinal exit against Arsenal. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

Disclosing that he felt peace and calm after watching his team give absolutely everything over the two legs, Simeone hailed his players for competing with a powerful team.

The Argentine manager added that despite failing to win a trophy this season, he is super proud of his boys.

His words, “I won’t focus on something simple like the Griezmann incident. It’s obvious, it was a foul. The referee said there was a foul by Marc [Pubill] on one of their players.

I won’t focus on that. It would be an excuse, and I don’t want to make excuses.

We got to a place nobody imagined, competing with a team with incredible power. I feel proud to be where I am. In preseason, when the team was presented, I said we’d compete. And we competed. Unfortunately we haven’t won anything, but we’ve gotten to places it isn’t easy to get to.

We’ve grown enormously in every aspect, we’re a club recognised in Europe and the world. But the fans want to win. Getting to a semifinal isn’t enough.”

WOW.

Arsenal Football Club is an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. Arsenal compete in the Premier League, the top flight of English football.

The club has won 13 league titles (including one unbeaten title), a record 14 FA Cups, two League Cups, 17 FA Community Shields, the Football League Centenary Trophy, one European Cup Winners’ Cup and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In terms of trophies won, it is the third-most successful club in English football.

After conducting an overhaul in the club’s operating model to coincide with Wenger’s departure, Spaniard Unai Emery was named as the club’s new head coach on 23 May 2018. He became the club’s first ever ‘head coach’ and second manager from outside the United Kingdom.

In Emery’s first season, Arsenal finished fifth in the Premier League and as runner-up in the Europa League. On 29 November 2019, Emery was dismissed as manager and former player and assistant first team coach Freddie Ljungberg was appointed as interim head coach. On 20 December 2019, Arsenal appointed former club captain Mikel Arteta as the new head coach. Arsenal finished the league season in eighth, their lowest finish since 1994–95, but beat Chelsea 2–1 to earn a record-extending 14th FA Cup win. After the season. Arteta’s title was changed from head coach to manager.