1. Home
  2. Football: Atletico hit new heights in latest Bayern humbling - Simeone

Football: Atletico hit new heights in latest Bayern humbling - Simeone

September 29, 2016

Madrid, Sept 28: Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone hailed his side's display as one of the best in his hugely successful five-year reign in charge as Yannick Carrasco inflicted another 1-0 defeat for Bayern Munich at the Vicente Calderon.

simonSimeone's men also beat Bayern at home in April on their way to a second Champions League final in three years.

And the Argentine lauded Atletico's tactical discipline as they secured an incredible 15th clean sheet and 14th win in 18 home Champions League games under Simeone.

"I feel so proud to be the coach of this team," said Simeone.

"I liked everything today. We pressed high, took advantage of spaces on the counter-attack and played with intensity for 90 minutes which is very difficult to do against one of the best teams in the world.

"Tactically, the team interpreted the game fantastically.

"It was one of the best performances in my time at Atletico Madrid."

Carrasco fired home the winner 10 minutes before half-time after Jan Oblak had denied Thomas Muller with a stunning save early on with Bayern's best effort.

Atletico could even afford to see top scorer Antoine Griezmann smash a penalty off the crossbar seven minutes from time.

Griezmann has now missed four of six penalties he has taken for Atletico, including crucially in defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League final.

However, Simeone insisted the Frenchman will remain on spot-kick duty.

"He missed a penalty like (Diego) Maradona, (Lionel) Messi, (Michel) Platini, Zico, all the best players in the world," added Simeone.

"He will keep taking them. He has incredible personality.

"He did 1000 things tonight that keep putting him amongst the best forwards in the world."

Griezmann replied with glowing words for Simeone's importance in his progression since joining from Real Sociedad just over two years ago.

"He has been very important for me because he has made me progress. I know I still have a lot to learn from him and I hope to continue like that," said the Frenchman

"It is still frustrating to miss the penalty, but it won't be the last time I miss a chance"

Defeat was Bayern's first since Carlo Ancelotti replaced Pep Guardiola in charge after a perfect eight wins from eight before the former Real coach returned to Madrid.

However, it was a familiar story for Bayern, as having been knocked out by Spanish sides for the past three seasons in the Champions League, they failed to score on Spanish soil for the fourth consecutive trip.

"Atletico showed a killer instinct tonight, and we did not," said goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

"We will have another chance to beat them in Munich."

Top spot in Group D is likely to come down to that meeting between the sides on December 6 as both won their opening games against FC Rostov and PSV Eindhoven.

And Arjen Robben insists Bayern must find away to counteract the "unpleasant" tactics used by Atletico.

"That is a big game for the group phase. Last season it was a semi-final and you could see why," said the Dutch winger.

"They have a very unpleasant team to play against.

"We started really well. The first 15, 20 minutes were really good. We were aggressive and had chances, which you have to use in a game like that.

"We have to learn from this and keep going."

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: Batting great Rahul Dravid has attributed Chennai Super Kings' consistent run in the IPL to skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's instincts, game-smarts and the incredible amount of work that goes behind the scenes.

N Srinivasan, the former BCCI president and head of India Cements, which owns the CSK franchise, agreed that Dhoni is a man of instinct who doesn't believe in attending team meetings and going over data.

Both were speaking at a webinar organised by the Great Lakes Institute of Management.

"If you look at the success CSK has had, they've got really good access to data and they've got really good access to people behind the scenes and they've run cricket teams at the junior level," Dravid said at the webinar according to ESPNcricinfo.

The former India captain added, "They understand talent and they've obviously got a good scouting process in place. But, what they also have is a captain who really understands instincts.

"So, I mean, look, I know Dhoni quite well and I hope he hasn't changed, but I know Dhoni is probably not one to look at reams of data and statistics."

The Super Kings have won the lucrative tournament three times -- one less than Mumbai Indians -- and reached the knockouts in each of the 10 seasons they have been a part of.

Srinivasan also spoke about how Dhoni's instinct and judgement contributed to his team's success at a time when a lot of emphases is placed on data.

"We're awash with data just now. To give you an example, there are bowling coaches and in a T20 game, they play videos of every batsman whom they're going to come against and they see how he got out, what's his strength, what's his weakness etc.

"So, MS Dhoni doesn't attend this, he's a pure instinct man. The bowling coach, (head coach Stephen) Fleming will be there and everybody will be there, everyone is giving opinions, (but) he'll get up and go.

"In the context of instinct, he feels that okay he can assess a batsman or player on the field, that's his judgement. On the other hand, there is so much of data that is available to help a person also analyse. It's a very difficult line to draw (between data and instinct)."

Srinivasan also recalled how Dhoni once refused to take "one outstanding player" suggested by the franchise boss as that could have broken the team's cohesion.

"There was one outstanding player that we suggested to MS, he said: 'no sir, he will spoil the team'. The cohesion within the team is important and see in America, franchise-based sport has been there for such a long time," he said.

"In India, we're just starting and we're new to it. But we at India Cements have had a lot of experience running teams at junior levels."

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: Veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said he doesn't think Mahendra Singh Dhoni will play for India again, adding to the guessing game over the future of the superstar former captain.

Dhoni, 38, has not appeared for club or country since last year's 50-over World Cup and India's coronavirus lockdown could threaten his chances of getting back into the national team.

The Indian Premier League, the main platform before this year's scheduled T20 World Cup, is likely to be truncated or cancelled because of the pandemic.

Harbhajan, who plays with Dhoni at IPL side Chennai Super Kings, said international retirement was on the cards for Dhoni and that he was increasingly being asked about his teammate.

"It's up to him. You need to know whether he wants to play for India again," Harbhajan said in an online forum.

"As far as I know him, he won't want to wear India's blue jersey again. IPL he will play, but for India I think he had decided the (2019) World Cup was his last."

Dhoni, who gave up Test cricket in 2014, started training for the Super Kings in March but has not commented on his international future.

Dhoni led India to win the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in 2007. He hit a six to seal the 2011 World Cup final victory and, along with it, his status as a national hero. He has amassed 10,773 runs from 350 ODIs.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
April 25,2020

London, Apr 25: Former Australian cricketer Graeme Watson who was fighting cancer, has died at the age of 75.

Primarily a middle-order batsman and a medium-pace bowler, he featured in five Tests from 1967 to 1972 and two ODIs in 1972, ESPNcricinfo reported.

The all-rounder earned the national call during the 1966-67 tour of Rhodesia and South Africa. Watson slammed a half-century in the first innings of the second Test of the series.

However, the medium-pace bowler was ruled of the next test after suffering an ankle injury. He returned for the fourth Test in Johannesburg where scalped his career-best 2 for 67 but failed to leave a mark with the bat as Kangaroos lost the series.

In 1971-72 he moved to Western Australia and played a major role in their Sheffield-Shield win in 1971-72, 1972-73, and 1974-75 seasons.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.