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Alex Kirkland, ESPN FC
Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone said he couldn’t bear to watch the team’s “emotional” penalty shootout win over Inter Milan in the Champions League round-of-16 on Wednesday.
Federico Dimarco had put the Italians 1-0 up — and 2-0 up on aggregate — early on before Antoine Griezmann responded two minutes later, and an 87th minute goal from Atletico substitute Memphis Depay forced extra time.
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Inter’s Lautaro Martínez put the decisive penalty over the bar in the shootout, after goalkeeper Jan Oblak had saved from Alexis Sánchez and Davy Klaassen, to see the LaLiga side into Friday’s quarterfinal draw.
“I didn’t watch,” Simeone told Movistar when asked about the shootout. “It’s not good for me to watch, I decided not to…Jan deserves it. It’s always been hard for us with penalties.”
Atletico famously lost the 2016 Champions League final on penalties to rivals Real Madrid in Milan.
“I was just looking at the images of the fans on the TV, it’s emotional,” Simeone added. “When the team is like it was today, the hope grows, and we generate that excitement. We’re among the eight best [teams] in Europe once more, that says a lot about the club.”
Simeone praised last year’s beaten Champions League finalists Inter as “one of the best in Europe.”
“They’re an incredible team,” Simeone said of Inter. “They play well, they’re very quick, they’re decisive, the forwards work hard. [Defenders Stefan] Savic, Mario [Hermoso], Axel [Witsel] played a great game. They played like you have to.”
Atletico had been on a poor run of form since losing the first leg 1-0 on Feb. 20, with one win in four games, including a 2-0 defeat at relegation-threatened Cadiz in LaLiga on Saturday.
“We’ve had sad nights, like the other day after the Cadiz game,” Simeone said. “But this year, there’ve been flashes: against Real Madrid, in the Copa del Rey, in the Supercopa, the great game today.
“We’ll keep working, we had a plan today and the team followed it.”
Star forward Griezmann returned from injury for the game at the Metropolitano after hurting his ankle in the first leg and scored Atleti’s opening goal to keep them in the tie after going behind early.
“I made a big effort to be here today, working morning, afternoon and night with the physios,” he told Movistar. “It was a key game, we targeted this date. We tried for [Athletic] Bilbao [on Feb. 29], but it was impossible, I couldn’t even walk.
“It was very important for the team and for me, I made a big effort.”
After the quarterfinal draw, Atletico will face Barcelona in LaLiga on Sunday.
“We aren’t thinking about the draw, but rather about enjoying tonight,” Griezmann said. “We have two days off that we’ve been given, we’ll rest well and be back for Sunday. But whoever we play we’ll be a difficult opponent.”