ATLÉTICO 1 - 1 ALAVÉS | SIMEONE
Simeone: "Torres's doing well but Griezmann is our first choice"
"They only had one shot on target. We are left with very little for what we could have taken from the game", the Atlético coach sighed.
In retrosepct, it was almost a fitting ending. Manu García's 93rd minute equaliser seemed to epitomise an excruciatingly frustrating evening for Atlético in their league opener against Alavés. Kevin Gameiro's stoppage time spot-kick seemed to have earned Simeone's side an opening day win but the visitors replied with the last kick of the game and their only attempt on target during the game. Really, there was little Diego Simeone could say after the game - the coach preferring to take a philosophical approach to the draw.
Score draw: “We lacked a level head when we were finishing off our moves but our attitude was good. Everyone tried - Gaitán, Torres, Gameiro… They only had one shot on goal. Considering what we could have got from the game, we feel a little short-changed”.
Pre-season: “We improved as the summer wore on. The team's strong, enthusiastic and full of energy. We tried everything tonight. It leaves a bad taste not getting what we wanted but I'm going home happy knowing that we looked to win this game, and how we went about it”.
Alavés: “They tried to sit back and defend. You win game by scoring goals and while we took a point from the match, we should have taken more”.
Fernando Torres: “He's important, he's fine, he's looking strong. But Griezmann's our first choice”.