Simeone proud of Atletico despite end of title dreams

Diego Simeone remains proud of Atletico Madrid’s achievements this season after their Liga title dreams came to an abrupt end on Sunday following a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Levante.

Atletico consequently dropped to third place in the table and can no longer catch Barcelona on the last day as they sit three points behind Luis Enrique’s men with an inferior head-to-head record.

Nevertheless, Simeone – who served the second game of his three-match touchline ban – preferred to look at the positives of his side’s season.

“I have told the players that I am proud of what they have achieved,” Simeone was quoted as saying by AS. 

“What we have to do now is to try to finish second. If we cannot get second place, we will have to settle for third.

“We have been enjoying a great season and we have again been able to compete with Barcelona and Real Madrid. I am happy with that. 

“We were obviously missing something today. It hurts that we are out of the title race, but I am happy that we were battling for the title until the penultimate game.

“Levante deserved their win. I can only speak highly of them. This is the beauty of the game. Levante were already down, but they never stopped fighting. 

“A team that just played a Champions League semi-final can lose. But the game against Bayern on Tuesday is no excuse.”

Atletico meet Celta Vigo next week, before they take on arch-rivals Real Madrid in the Champions League final.