Following an impressive debut season with Atletico Madrid, manager Diego Simeone has played down his side’s chances of repeating their 2013-14 success. Simeone led the club to their first La Liga trophy since 1996, topping Barcelona and Real Madrid to finish in first place.
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The former Argentina international also led Atletico to the Champions League final, defeating AC Milan, Barcelona and Chelsea en route to the game with Real Madrid, where his side fell to a 4-1 defeat.
Ahead of their opening day fixture with Rayo Vallocena, Diego Simeone stated that Atletico will need to play at 110% in the upcoming season if they stand a chance of finishing top once again.
“In one match we are competitive and capable of beating anyone.”
“Over one or two games we all have a chance. Over a full year you need to do things extraordinarily well, at 110% like we did last year,” said Simeone (per BBC), “In a league of 38 games, the same Barca, having a bad season according to all the experts, nearly ended up champions,”
Following their Spanish Super Cup success over Real Madrid, defeating their fierce rivals 2-1 on aggregate, Atletico are the third-favourites to finish top behind Barcelona and Real.
“Madrid too had a bad start to the season and if they had beaten Valencia at home four games from the end they would have been top.
“It is very difficult to fight over so many games, but in one match we are competitive and capable of beating anyone.”
Atletico have splashed out almost €100 million on new signings following the departures of Diego Costa and Filipe Luis to Chelsea, as well as the likes of David Villa, Adrian and Diego departing the club. Antoine Griezmann and Mario Mandzukic headline a successful summer of transfers for the club, who are also linked with Alessio Cerci and Daniel Agger.