There are those who doubt whether Julian Alvarez He chose well when he left the multi-champion Manchester City to go to Atletico Madrid. Diego Simeonethe coach of the Spanish team, responded this Sunday to those who are on the side of a supposed “bad decision.” In the run-up to the debut in LaLiga against Villarreal as a visitor, the Argentine coach highlighted the “expectation” with which “everyone” awaits the performance of the world champion and two-time champion of America with the Argentine National Team, and stated that he sees him “well”, adapting and “knowing the place he has and where he is coming to.”
“It was all very sudden, everything very fast. He arrived very recently. I think he has been training for four days, I don’t think more.. He is adapting. He has played in the Olympics and the Copa America, he has had little rest, these last ten days of vacation were not pure vacations either because he was worried about whether he would stay at City or go with us, the talks do not let you fully relax…”, said the coach.
Photo: EFE/Fernando Alvarado
“I see it well, knowing the place it has and understanding the place where it comes from. All the characteristics he has are close to the DNA of Atlético de Madrid“We are all looking forward to his performance. This is not a responsibility, but he has earned an important place and hopefully we can form a team as a group so that his characteristics can help us,” said the coach during the press conference on Sunday.
For Monday’s match against Villarreal at the Estadio de la Cerámica, while the squad list is still pending, the question is whether the Argentine striker will have his first minutes with Atlético de Madrid. According to the tests of the week, he would aspire to a place on the substitutes’ bench at most.
Simeone also said that Real Madrid will start the tournament “as the best team of the season”, but “they will have to prove it with all the wonderful players they have”, and “all the others” will be “behind them to compete” against the white team.
“We haven’t finalised the squad yet. Once we haven’t finalised the squad, we need to focus on Monday’s game, watch the team grow game by game and not isolate ourselves from that. Clearly, in principle, Real Madrid starts out as the best team of the season and will have to prove it with all the wonderful players they have,” he warned.
“And all the rest of us will surely be behind to compete against the team that at the moment seems to be one of the best,” said the Argentine coach, who stressed that the red-and-white team has been working in this preseason “with great enthusiasm and excitement” and warned of the “difficulties that Villarreal will present this Monday” in a duel “always complex” at the Cerámica stadium.
Photo: EFE/Fernando Alvarado
“We aspire to continue competing game by game, as we have always done. We are not going to change. It is clear that, above all, Barcelona still has a very important team and Real Madrid still has players who are phenomenal. We have to think about ourselves. As we said last season, Bilbao and Real Sociedad are growing, Villarreal, with the manager (Marcelino García Toral), will surely compete, and I understand that we will have an important season in general,” he concluded.
