[ad_1]
The boss of Atletico Madrid, Diego Simeone, said that he "was taking balls" so that he would include Diego Costa and Koke from the start against Juventus. .
This is Costa's first departure since the fracture of the fifth left foot metatarsal on December 2nd and the first appearance of Koke following his recovery from a muscle injury on January 19th.
After the opening of the score of José Gimenez in the 78th minute, Simeone celebrated the event by turning to the crowd of Wanda Metropolitano and put his hands on his genitals – a gesture that he had made as a player.
"It means we have bullets, a lot of bullets," he said without complaining. "To put Costa and Koke after so long outside, you have to have balls and I have them, I wanted to show our fans how I felt, I did it. [when I was a player] in a match Lazio vs Bologna. "
Simeone congratulated Costa and Alvaro Morata for their contribution to the victory.
"Costa has not been ready for 90 minutes," he said. "I spoke Wednesday morning with Costa and Morata, what I needed everyone in the game.
"And they both passed Morata even after VAR did not favor her anymore."
Morata, who replaced Costa in the 58th minute, seemed to have outstripped Atletico in front of his former team, but a VAR call canceled the goal. However, Atletico has always taken the advantage over Turin thanks to the goals scored by central defenders Gimenez and Diego Godin.
Atletico, however, scored a weak point with reservations for Costa and Thomas Partey, both of whom will miss the return leg in Turin on 12 March.
Atlético has never lost a playoff match in eight years under Simeone after winning the first leg, but the Argentinean had a warning during his post-match press conference .
"The match is not over yet, there is still a game to play," Simeone said. "Of course, we will have to suffer against a big opponent, with big players.
"We played a very good game as a team and over the minutes we felt stronger, we created opportunities and we took two chances to win against a very strong opponent.
"It is certain that we will have to suffer in Turin."
Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri has criticized his team for going out of the finals and not being patient.
"Atleti came out a lot more aggressive with set pieces and took us by surprise," he said. "We knew it would be difficult – that Atletico requires you to play badly, to play slowly, they play this way for eight years.
"If anyone came here to have fun, he chose the wrong night.There will be a big disappointment after this result, but we can change the game.
"It will not be easy, we will need an excellent performance, but it can be done and we have to believe in ourselves."
[ad_2]
Source link