Diego Simeone does not accept ‘excuses’ from Barcelona, lists star players

Diego Simeone recently gave a long and detailed interview with Ole, where he spoke not only about his personal life but also his views on football and the Spanish League. During this, he also spoke about Barcelona and gave his two cents on their transition phase.

He was asked about the situation of Barcelona without Messi and whether that explained the Catalans poor form on the pitch. However, Simeone claimed that it was an outrageous statement.

“Look at their team. Sergi Roberto, Dest, Piqué, Lenglet, Araujo, Alba, Balde-17 years old, Pedri, Gavi—did you see him vs Italy?, Dembele, Agüero, Ansu, De Jong, Memphis, Coutinho… You lost Messi? We never had Messi. Nah, don’t give me excuses.”

He also had a solid opinion to share on the Catalans’ centre-backs, who have been considered to be a weak link in the team.

“Umtiti is a good player, who’s going through bad spot you can say. It’s the same for Lenglet. He’s an incredibly important center back. Look at how good he was before, important in multiple league titles. Come on man.”

Barcelona recently faced off against Simeone’s side in La Liga. Despite high-intensity attacks on both sides, it was eventually the Madrid based side that came out on top convincingly.

In fact, the last goal Barça scored against Atleti in the league was, of course, by Lionel Messi. A rather worrying stat.