Simeone confirms Morata is available for the Valencia game
Atlético Madrid's coach previewed Friday's away trip to Valencia after a week which has involved a couple of team-bonding exercises.
Diego Simeone attended the media this afternoon to preview tomorrow's trip to Mestalla. The Atleti coach also gave an update on the team's injured players.
Has Morata fully recovered?
Yes, he'll be available for tomorrow's game.
Morata and Diego Costa are both training. Will they be fit for the Liverpool game?
I'm not thinking about Tuesday's game just yet; all of our energy is on the Valencia game. We'll deal with our next game once that's over.
Team day out in Robledo de Chavela
How is the mood within the squad? There have a been a couple of team-bonding meetings and dinners...
Winning always generates enthusiasm; it brings a sense of hope, gives your ego a boost and elevates your pride to continue progressing. The team get-togethers help to unite the group and it's good to meet outside of the workplace.
How do you view tomorrow's game against Valencia?
It's a massive game for us. Valencia are a side who are strong at home, their fans get behind them. They have a very good team, with quality players in attack, they support each other well in midfield and both full-backs are decent going forward. We'll have to take the game to where we think we can hurt them.
And it's a Friday kick-off. Is that better for you?
We'll play whenever they tell us. It's not as if we have much margin to choose.
Atlético's slender scorelines
A win tomorrow would give the team the self-confidence they've been lacking?
Looking back at last weekend's game, our first half display was close to what we've been looking for and what kind of team we are - that's something for us to build on. We've been discussing the need to win, to have more vim and vigor, to have that anxious feeling that you can resolve the game, with a counter-attack after going 1-0 up. That didn't happen, and as in all games when you have a slim scoreline, there's always that anxiety.