Simeone after victory over Espanyol: I asked the young players to be ready, and today their time came

Diego Simeone, the head coach of Atlético, has stressed the importance of young players being ready to take their chances after his team secured a tough win against Espanyol by a goal to nil in La Liga on Saturday.

Diego Simeone stated in comments after the match: "I met with the young players who do not get many minutes of play, and I explained to them the necessity of understanding the situation and being prepared, because the opportunity will come for them to play. This is exactly what happened today with Dani Martinez and Mendoza."

He added: "When you reach this level, you must be ready, and you cannot excuse not participating in matches or lacking match rhythm. When the opportunity comes, you have to play. We want everyone to be ready when the team needs them, because we will need all the players."

Regarding the difficulty of the victory, the Argentine coach explained that his team faced a well-organized and strong opponent who defended their goal fiercely. He pointed out that Atlético created many chances during both halves but lacked the finishing touch in front of goal until the final moments, before successfully scoring the winning goal.

Simeone spoke about Alex Peina, with whom he celebrated after scoring a wonderful goal, saying: "I hugged him tightly because he scored an amazing goal. He is a player capable of making a difference, and he is going through a very good period. We need to manage his minutes on the pitch in the best way so that he continues to give us these moments of talent."

He praised striker Jonathan David, highlighting that he is currently delivering the level expected of him, thanks to his quick movements, ability to penetrate from both sides, playing with his back to goal, and making calm decisions in the final pass.

Diego Simeone concluded his remarks by affirming that Atlético will continue to work until the end, noting that the team managed to control the course of the match despite falling behind in goals, securing a valuable victory with a score of 1-0 in a match he described as extremely difficult.