Practicing penalties a waste – Simeone

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone insists his team spend no time practicing penalties after they stepped up in the shoot-out to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.

Juanfran struck the decisive spot-kick as Atletico claimed an 8-7 penalty shoot-out win over PSV after their last-16 tie finished locked at 0-0 following a goalless draw at the Vicente Calderon.

Simeone said Atletico wasted no time no penalties in training as they finished with a perfect eight from eight on Tuesday.

“We don’t practice penalties because it makes no sense,” he said.

“[Assistant] German Burgos chose the players for the shoot-out last year against Bayer Leverkusen and he did it again tonight. We have to congratulate him.

“It was tough last year and it was tough tonight because it’s not easy in these situations. It was like a chess game.”

Luciano Narsingh’s failure to convert from the spot proved decisive for PSV as they bowed out of the competition.

Simeone was predictably thrilled with his team’s progress to the last eight.

“I’m delighted to get into the quarter-finals. Behind Juanfran’s winning penalty is a lot of hard work from a lot of people and it’s a great thrill for us to be in the quarters,” he said.

“We will continue competing and we won’t underestimate what it means to get to the last eight.”