Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone says that he is extremely happy with the contribution of Fernando Torres in the recent 0-0 draw with Sevilla.
Torres came on as a substitute late on in the match, but he was unable to prevent Atletico Madrid from only getting a point from the match. This meant that they were unable to close the gap on Real Madrid, who also only drew the match. This is seen as a great opportunity to reduce the gap to the top of the table to only five points. Even though Atletico would have had to also contend with the threat from Barcelona, it would have been a strong position indeed.
As it is, Atletico are going through a mini crisis in terms of form after managing only two victories from the last five matches in all competitions. This includes defeats against Bayern Leverkusen and Celta de Vigo. The defeat against Leverkusen, though, will be especially damaging given that it is in the first leg of the Champions League.
The return leg will be at the Vicente Calderon and Simeone will make sure that his team are pumped up for this encounter. However, their failure to score an away goal puts them at a major risk.
“With Koke’s entrance we brought the ball out better from the back, and were able to connect with the attack. Torres’ entrance makes me very happy. We need men like him, with his enthusiasm. We need people like that, who see that there is nobody more important than the team or the coach. It is a good point because we were competing against a direct rival. There were two well-organised teams, each trying to play to their own strengths. We could have pushed the game to our side in the second half with our counter-attacks,” said Simeone.