Football
9y

Diego Simeone pleased with Mario Mandzukic and 'reinvented' Atletico

Diego Simeone said he was pleased with his "reinvented" Atletico Madrid team after Wednesday's 4-0 hammering of Olympiakos saw them qualify them for the Champions League round of 16 with a game still to play.

Atletico cruised to a 2-0 first-half lead as Raul Garcia and Mario Mandzukic, who completed his hat trick after the break with two smart headers.

The result means Simeone's side have bounced back from losing their first group game 3-2 at Olympiakos by winning each of their next four matches, scoring 12 times without conceding.

The Colchoneros coach told his postmatch news conference at the Estadio Vicente Calderon that he was especially happy with how Mandzukic and other new players had settled in.

"We had a difficult start, but it has been a great effort since by the players to win four consecutive games and be already qualified for the last 16," he said.

"That shows great work by the team, with all the new players who came in, and how we have reinvented as a team while remaining competitive."

Simeone said he liked the way his squad had gone for the jugular against uncertain opponents.

"We played a good game," he said. "I do not know if it is our best of the season, but we were very consistent. We knew how to cause damage to the opponent, how to really hurt them."

Mandzukic had been substituted with a neck injury sustained during Saturday's 3-1 La Liga win over Malaga and was a doubt for this game, but was declared fit to play and took his tally in the competition to five goals in five games.

"We were thinking yesterday and all morning that Mandzukic might not play," Simeone added. "But in the end it all went well. Among his characteristics as a player are his intensity and his fighting qualities."

Of the new players brought in last summer, the only one who has not been given a start is 16 million-euro attacker Alessio Cerci, with Simeone explaining that the Italy international was currently down the pecking order.

"There are many more games to play. What is more important is the quality of minutes when they get to play," he said. "There is competition for places --Mandzukic, Raul Garcia and [Raul] Jimenez are all doing well. So of course it is not easy."

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