Diego Simeone praised his Atlético Madrid squad as “extremely clinical” following their 2-0 victory against Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals. This win marked Atlético’s first triumph at Camp Nou in 20 years.
Julián Álvarez opened the scoring with a free kick just before halftime, shortly after Pau Cubarsí received a red card, leaving Barça down to ten players. Substitute Alexander Sørloth then secured a second goal for the visitors in the second half.
Prior to this match, Simeone had never secured a victory at Camp Nou as a coach, with a record of seven draws and 11 losses. Atlético’s last win at this iconic stadium dated back to 2006.
“It’s true we’d never won here before. It’s very challenging,” Simeone remarked to Movistar. “[Barcelona] are perhaps the best team in Europe, alongside Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. We executed well as a team, capitalized on key moments, and the second goal provided us with added security. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t exploit the [man advantage] even more.”
This match was the second of three encounters between Atlético and Barcelona over a span of ten days. Barcelona had won their LaLiga meeting on Saturday, 2-1 in Madrid, while Atlético secured Wednesday’s Champions League first leg, 2-0. The two teams are set to clash again at the Metropolitano for the second leg on April 14.
“Football is wonderful because being clinical is essential, and today we were extremely clinical,” Simeone said. “We understood that they play with a high defensive line. Our team has consistently troubled them in our matches, always creating chances and finding the back of the net.
“It was a tough game; it’s no coincidence they’ve won 22 out of 23 games here [this season]. It’s a good result, but they’re an opponent who will undoubtedly challenge us on Tuesday.”
Álvarez’s free kick was his ninth goal in the Champions League this season.
“I took five or six free kicks yesterday [in training] and didn’t score a single one,” he shared with Movistar, “but the one that mattered was today.”