Diego Simeone praises Atletico Madrid's strong defensive display after 1-0 win against Celta Vigo

Atletico Madrid head coach Diego Simeone was pleased with his side's defensive performance as they secured a 1-0 away-win against Celta Vigo in La Liga on Thursday night (local time). Julian Alvarez's 90th-minute effort separated the two sides at Balaidos and helped Los Colchoneros secure their fourth league-win of the season. 

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Celta looked the better side throughout the ninety minutes of play, creating the better goal-scoring chances and attempting more efforts on goal. However, Atletico stood firm to keep a clean sheet and broke the deadlock with their first real attack right at the end of regulation time. Substitute Alvarez slotted home from Antoine Griezmann's cross. 

Simeone's men registered only two shots on target, while the the Sky Blues had close to 60% possession and attempted 10 shots with four of them on target. Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak had a busy night as he made couple of brilliant saves to record fifth clean sheet of the season from seven games in all competitions. 

"Today we took the three points with great defensive patience against opponents who haven't lost since February," Simeone told reporters after the match. "We've been working well, but we need to improve our attacking. In the first-half we performed well in defence but we didn't create opportunities to put our players in front of goal. There's a defensive performance that is much better, we still haven't found that area where we can play better offensively."

Alvarez, who joined Atletico from Manchester City this summer, has now scored two goals in his last three appearances in La Liga. Simeone was delighted with the performance of the Argentine striker. "In the second half the substitutions made us better, Rodrigo Riquelme, Julian, Correa.. they were feeding us more in a game where both sides looked like they were going to have chances," The 54-year-old tactician said.

Griezmann's in-swinging cross from the right channel found the run of Alvarez at the far post and the 24-year-old made no mistake as he pocked in from close range. "Luckily in the end (Antoine) Griezmann and Julian found each other."

Atletico are currently occupying third spot in the La Liga standings, having collected 15 points from seven games, two adrift of second-placed Real Madrid and one clear of fourth-placed Villarreal. Simeone's side will next play host to Real Madrid in the much anticipated Madrid derby on Sunday night (local time).  

Also read: La Liga 2024-25: Julian Alvarez strikes late as Atletico Madrid edge past Celta Vigo

• football
• Diego Simeone
• La Liga
• Atletico Madrid
• Celta Vigo
• Julian Alvarez