Manzano hopes to win back fans

Atletico Madrid boss Gregorio Manzano is hopeful of winning back the fans after his team were booed during the 3-1 win over Stade Rennes.

Radamel Falcao’s penalty, and goals from Alvaro Dominguez and Arda Turan, ensured the La Liga side, who had already qualified for the knockout stages of the Europa League, won the Group I encounter on Thursday.

Midfielder Georges Mandjeck pulled a goal back for the Ligue 1 side late in the clash, but it was a mere consolation.

Atletico sit 10th domestically, but fans, who reportedly want Manzano sacked, voiced their displeasure at their team before the meeting with Rennes at the Vicente Calderon.

Manzano said it would take time to win over the fans after a poor start to their league campaign.

“It could have turned out badly but it turned out well. The only thing that we have to do is to thank our fans because we understand how they feel and the only way for us to thank them was to secure qualification for the next round,” he said.

“The fans will now be able to enjoy another round of the Europa League in February being played in their stadium.”

“They will be able to support us and hopefully we will go far. That’s our only response given the situation that we are in.”

“We want to correct what is going on now and improve our results, and we hope that (on) Sunday against Real Betis at home we will be able to make our fans happy once again.”

Meanwhile, Rennes finished bottom of Group I as Serie A side Udinese advanced at the expense of Celtic.

Stade Rennes coach Frederic Antonetti rued his team’s lack of experience, but was hopeful his players had learned from their mistakes.

“I am concerned about a couple of things but the mistakes that were made were normal. The players have to be aware of their level,” he said.

“I am concerned for example about the mistakes that we made against Udinese. I am convinced that these players have a lot of quality but in some cases their lack of experience has a negative impact on their performance so that is what we have to improve.”