Atletico’s Key To Success Is Managing Emotions, Not Clean Sheets – Simeone

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Atletico’s Key To Success Is Managing Emotions, Not Clean Sheets – Simeone

Diego Simeone believes Atletico Madrid’s defensive resilience is merely a by-product of the players’ commitment to his footballing vision.

Atleti edged a 1-0 win over Real Valladolid on Saturday, the first time they have recorded back-to-back La Liga victories since beating Real Betis and Levante either side of the mid-season break.

A return encounter against the latter opponents is up next for Los Colchoneros, whose previous away fixture ended in a 5-0 shellacking of Osasuna.

Backed up by the exceptional Jan Oblak between the posts, Atletico have only been breached 22 times in 30 La Liga games in 2019-20, although Simeone insists he is reluctant to rely too much on this obduracy.

“There will always be mistakes, all teams make mistakes,” he told a pre-match news conference.

“We must try to be focused and, with the best security we can offer the team, we have rotated.

“I am still convinced that the team’s strength is the emotional convention of the group. This will be the way to reach the goals we want.”