DIEGO SIMEONE SAID he was trying to show Atletico Madrid’s fans that his side had “cojones” when he celebrated a goal in the 2-0 Champions League victory over Juventus by clutching his own crotch.
The Atleti coach enthusiastically responded to Jose Gimenez’s 78th-minute opener, after Alvaro Morata had seen a goal ruled out by VAR.
Diego Godin added a second for the La Liga club at the Wanda Metropolitano to leave Juve with an uphill struggle to make it into the quarter-finals.
That Diego Simeone celebration vs Juventus 😂😂😂#ucl pic.twitter.com/2MvNrgPGgK
— Football Fans Tribe 🇳🇬 ⚽ (@FansTribeHQ) February 20, 2019
Simeone pointed out that he had celebrated in a similar fashion during his playing days, but apologised to anyone who may have been offended.
I did it as a player in Lazio-Bologna and I did it again to show our fans that we have cojones,” he told Sky Sport Italia. “It wasn’t aimed at the other team, I was turning towards our own supporters.
“It’s not a nice gesture, I’ll admit, but I felt the need to do it. It was such a tough game, we fought so hard and Diego Costa worked really hard when he wasn’t 100% fit. I had to show what I was feeling.
“I can only apologise if anyone was offended, but I did it from the heart.”
Atletico Madrid finished second to Borussia Dortmund in their group, losing 4-0 in Germany before a 2-0 victory on home soil.
We had put in a great performance against Borussia Dortmund,” added Simeone. “We got important players back like Koke and Costa, we were able to play an intelligent game against a huge team with very strong players.
“We had to make the most of every situation we could get. It’s a very good result.
“We know that we are facing a great team, a great club and great champions in Turin. We fully expect to suffer in the second leg.”
The second leg is scheduled to be played on 12 March.
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Surely he shouldn’t be admitting this?
@Declan Snow: 100% should receive a one match ban. For doing it and even more for being so open and proud of it.
Why would you come out and admit doing this…!!
1 1 in Germany with 5 mins to go and every Liverpool player should go down holding their leg.
@Dan: no point doing that when it’s 3-1 to Bayern you gimp
Did he also reveal that water is wet? Cue the outrage. Even though every team does it
Iv said it before if a players goes down and match has to be stopped, they should have to go off for a minimum period of time say 3 minutes. See how quickly all this would stop.
@Cormac Flanagan: and what about genuine cases? Want the oppositions star striker off for 3 minutes? “Accidentally stand on his toes at a corner….
@Ted Logan: if it’s genuine then he will require time for treatment anyway. Or be substituted. And if the star striker gets targeted it’s up to the ref/VAR to sort it out.
Football players fake injury , shocker
That game was like playing fifa being a goal up at the end and just passing about killing time at the same time pissing off the other player
Ramos is still a (unt though right?
Good thing Bielsa didn’t say this. 200k find incoming
Well , there’s a surprise . He won’t have any bad feelings so if Liverpool are ahead and develop a lot of cramp ! How does these guys become managers ? A silly admittance . Half time ….. hope next game is better than the anfield one .
Kick em out of the competition
@Hardly Normal: Harsh.
@James Clancy: I know ya but still
This is worse than Beckham gettin the yellow card