Atletico Madrid’s Champions League campaign concluded with a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in the semi-final second leg, but manager Diego Simeone opted to praise his opponents and his own side’s effort rather than dwell on controversial refereeing decisions.

The Spanish side lost 2-1 on aggregate after Bukayo Saka’s late first-half goal at the Emirates Stadium secured Arsenal’s passage to the final. Despite two strong penalty appeals for Atletico in the second half, Simeone remained steadfast in his refusal to make excuses.

Refereeing decisions spark debate

The match, officiated by Daniel Siebert, saw two key moments that could have swung the tie for Atletico Madrid. In the 51st minute, Giuliano Simeone went down in the box under pressure from Gabriel after rounding David Raya, but the referee waved play on. Later, Antoine Griezmann appealed for a penalty after a challenge from Riccardo Calafiori, only for Siebert to have already blown for a foul by Marc Pubill on Gabriel elsewhere on the pitch. The Video Assistant Referee (VAR) did not intervene on the Griezmann incident.

However, Diego Simeone was quick to dismiss the notion of blaming the officials. “I won’t focus on something simple like the Griezmann incident. It’s obvious, it was a foul,” Simeone stated, as reported by ESPN. “The referee said there was a foul by Marc [Pubill] on one of their players. I won’t focus on that. It would be an excuse, and I don’t want to make excuses.”

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Simeone proud of his team’s journey

Instead, Simeone chose to congratulate Arsenal and reflect on his team’s performance throughout the competition. He acknowledged Arsenal’s “coherent project with strong financial backing” and their deserving progression to the final, according to comments reported on Reddit. He added, “If we got knocked out, it’s because our opponents deserved to get through. They took their chances, including their big chance in the first half, and they deserved to get through.”

The veteran coach expressed immense pride in his squad’s journey, which saw them compete against one of Europe’s top teams. “We got to a place nobody imagined, competing with a team with incredible power,” Simeone told ESPN. “I feel proud to be where I am. In preseason, when the team was presented, I said we’d compete. And we competed. Unfortunately, we haven’t won anything, but we’ve gotten to places it isn’t easy to get to.”

Arsenal will now prepare to face either Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich in the Champions League final, scheduled to be held in Budapest on May 30.

Sources: www.ESPN.co.uk, X

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