The Argentine and rojiblanco coach Simeone congratulated the rojiblancos homegrown players this Thursday after the victory against Arenteiro in the Copa del Rey.
Specifically, he spoke of Pablo Barrios and Alber, because they brought “pure energy”, and Atlético “blood”.
“The boys have been working very well,” he said about the homegrown players who are knocking on the door of the first team.
“The boys have been working very well, it’s a shame that Carlos couldn’t play because he would have helped us with the tiredness of the team that was there. We are following many of them, because they are pure energy, the blood of Atlético de Madrid, and we need them. We were lucky to have Lucas, Theo, Koke and Saúl, who are players who raise the level of the competition among the best, and there was Pablo, ”he said at the press conference.
Simeone assured that the final result did not reflect what was happening on the pitch, because “it was not so easy” against an Arenteiro who had “hopes” of surprising: “I enjoyed the game, on a muddy field, hard work, a penalty failed, because they are situations that put us to the test”.
The Argentine coach praised Carrasco, who scored two goals, and Álvaro Morata despite the several chances he missed. “He (Carrasco) knows what I want from him, what we demand of him. So far none of us have had a great season, I would say fair to bad. Now we have the opportunity to improve because I have a lot of hope and desire, and we also have good players like him. He came from the World Cup with a lot of desire to get going and he is working very well. More important than the two goals, he worked very hard during the match”, he said.
“Morata tried hard and had many chances, that’s the most important thing. He is capable of scoring, that is our frame of reference when it comes to attacking and hopefully he will continue in that vein”, he emphasized.
