Simeone hails Atletico draw at Granada as arguably best performance of the season

Diego Simeone felt Atletico Madrid played perhaps their best game of the season in Saturday’s 1-1 LaLiga draw with Granada.

Renan Lodi opened the scoring at Nuevo Estadio de Los Carmenes after an hour only for German Sanchez to equalise seven minutes later.

The draw was Atleti’s seventh in their past 10 LaLiga matches and leaves them three points behind Barcelona and Real Madrid at the top of the table, having played a game more.

Simeone was happy with the performance, though, blaming Atletico’s failure to hold on for a win on a “careless moment” that allowed Sanchez to head in from a corner.

“This was our best performance of those away from home and also possibly of those at home too,” the coach told reporters.

“We were very consistent, especially in the first 30 minutes. Granada didn’t get close to our penalty area.

“We played a quite complete match, but we had a careless moment in the goal we conceded. But the team didn’t give up.”

1 – No side has scored more goals from set-pieces than Granada in @LaLigaEN this season (10, level with Barcelona). Indeed, no side has scored more goals from corners than Granada (five). Strategy. pic.twitter.com/MwvI8M0yJA

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) November 23, 2019

Joao Felix was fit enough only to appear as a second-half substitute, having been struggling with an ankle injury since last month.

Simeone insists the 20-year-old must be given time to regain full fitness before he can be expected to make a significant impact.

“I act as a result of what I see in training,” he said. “He has to keep picking up the pace.

“He has great quality and talent and when he is fully fit he will contribute.”