Griezmann: Atlético's Simeone ignoring speculation over star
Antoine Griezmann has been tipped to join Barcelona at the end of the season, but Diego Simeone isn't giving those rumours much thought.
Diego Simeone is ignoring the possibility of Antoine Griezmann leaving Atlético Madrid at the end of the season, instead focusing on the in-form Frenchman's contributions for Los Rojiblancos.
Griezmann has been strongly linked with an end-of-season move to Barcelona, with some outlets even suggesting the attacker has an agreement with the Catalan club.
He showed precisely why other sides might be interested in him during Sunday's 3-0 win over Celta Vigo, scoring a fine goal and then setting up Vitolo for the second.
"Tomorrow will be tomorrow," says Simeone on Griezmann
It was put to Simeone that he will miss Griezmann when he leaves, but the Atlético coach is ready to accept whatever happens, surmising "tomorrow will be tomorrow".
"I have to talk about realities," Simeone told reporters in his post-match news conference.
"Today he is with us, he plays fantastically well and there is very good togetherness with the fans.
"He scored a great goal, he made the second goal and he worked for the team. This is the reality - tomorrow will be tomorrow."
Vitolo produced a solid display on the left flank and capped his performance with a fine goal, latching on to Griezmann's defence-splitting pass and finishing with a delicate chip over the approaching Ruben Blanco.
"Vitolo is getting closer to what we want"
It was his first LaLiga goal of the season for Atleti - he spent the first half of the season on loan at Las Palmas - and Simeone believes he is starting to get close to the levels demanded of him after a difficult adaptation.
"He's growing," Simeone said. "Since we became 17 [in terms of the size of his outfield playing squad], everyone has been participating.
"I'm trying to have them all in the best condition so they can contribute when the team needs them to.
"We went looking for a jump in quality, especially in offensive transitions. He is getting closer to what we want and today he made a great goal - a great diagonal run.
"He couldn't play a lot at Las Palmas and it's not easy to integrate quickly into Atlético, but he is trying to do it as quickly as possible."