Atletico Madrid president Enrique Cerezo has hit back at Arturo Vidal’s claims Diego Simeone has used “ugly football” to reach the Champions League final.
Advertisement
Los Blancos qualified for their 14th European Cup final on Wednesday, when they defeated Manchester City 1-0 on aggregate in the semi-finals of the competition.
Two years ago, an injury-time equalizer from Sergio Ramos forced extra time and Madrid went on to win 4-1 to complete La Decima, but in general it is Atletico that has enjoyed the upper hand in the derby.
Bale’s first-half goal in the Santiago Bernabeu, which beat City goalkeeper following a heavy deflection off the shin of midfielder Fernando, proved enough to settle a tie which was light on goalmouth action throughout the 180 minutes in Manchester and Madrid. “My team feels very identified with us, I’m very lucky to have them”. It’s not the reason why didn’t win the game, we tried to create and we couldn’t, and that’s why we are not in the final.
“It is a disaster for any of the big teams if you are not involved in next season’s Champions League”, he said. All the teams have the money to bring in good players, so all the 20 teams have a lot of good players.
“I think it is a special season because we have reached the semis”, he said.
“We aren’t thinking about the final, we are thinking about our remaining games in the league”. Two of those wins came in all Spanish finals, just like the 2016 version could be.
“It’s clear that at the start of the year it did not look like we would be here, so we are happy”, he added.
“When players can do that you see the best of them”.
It is the second time in the history of the European Cup that two sides from the same city face each other in the final.
“I think Cristiano is going to play”.
Gareth Bale believes Manchester City’s poor performance in the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid was due to their lack of experience at that stage of the competition.
Advertisement
Manuel Pellegrini’s side have been knocked out by Barcelona twice and Real Madrid in the last three years and the striker has scored just once in six matches against the La Liga duo.
