Simeone takes swipe at Madrid: "Barça see Atlético as their main rivals"

In today's press conference, Diego Simeone was quick to point out that his Atlético de Madrid have been the team Barcelona has needed to beat to win the league title in recent season - and not Real Madrid, who are trailing the leaders by 13 points going into this weekeend's fixtures. Atleti finished last season as runners-up behind Barça and are the only side who are capable of mounting a challenge in this year's league title race.

Reporter: What do you have to do to continue having a chance of winning LaLiga?

Simeone: I’m only concerned with tomorrow’s game. I’m not going to think any further ahead than that because that would be unfair and foolish – seeing as we are eight points behind a team like Barcelona. It would be talk for the sake of talking and not a reflection of the reality – and the reality is that the only think that would pull us closer to having a chance of winning the league, is winning tomorrow. I’d like to think that for the past two or three years, Barcelona see us as their main rivals – that says a lot about the good work we’ve been doing.