Thursday, August 22, 2013

Simeone: Atletico can still win Supercopa

The Argentine was quite satisfied with his side's performance at the Vicente Calderon and thinks they can cause Barcelona trouble in the return leg

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone believes his team still have every chance of winning the Supercopa de Espana after drawing 1-1 at home to Barcelona in the first leg on Wednesday.

David Villa helped the hosts to a 1-0 lead with a stunning volley on 12 minutes, but Neymar eventually levelled proceedings again after the interval.

Simeone was pleased with his team's performance, though, and believes a repeat of that would give them a chance of claiming the trophy at Camp Nou on August 28.

"The tie is still very open and it will be anyone's to win. I expect a tough game at Camp Nou next week," the Argentine said at a press conference.

"Barcelona will feel much stronger playing in front of their home fans and I know it will be hard for us. We will have to put in a lot of effort to keep the rhythm and the tempo to the game in order to stay in the tie. If we play the football we played tonight in the first half we can.

"We faced the best team in the world and we performed really well against them and used our weapons to good effect."

Simeone then went on to stress that Atletico were the better side of the two before the break and could very well have led by a bigger margin at half-time.

"In the first half of the game we were outstanding tactically and the players put in an excellent performance.

"We managed to get hold of the ball and allow David Villa to score a great goal against his old club. That was a good moment for us.

"He had another good chance as well but Barcelona defended well on that attack. That was a chance for us to take a 2-0 lead and in my opinion that would have been a fair score at the interval.

"In the second half neither side played well but Barcelona somehow managed to score a great goal to level the tie. I predict we will have an open second leg on Wednesday."

The return at Camp Nou takes place on August 28.

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