Diego Simeone's Respect for Barcelona and Atlético's Challenge

Diego Simeone does not hand out compliments lightly. So when the Atlético Madrid coach calls this Barcelona “the team that plays the best in the world,” it lands with real weight.

The praise came with La Liga already wrapped up. Hansi Flick’s Barça had just clinched the title in the most satisfying way possible for their supporters: a 2-0 win over Real Madrid at a charged Spotify Camp Nou, a result that opened up a 14-point gap over Álvaro Arbeloa’s side with only three games left. Champions, and champions in style.

Simeone watched that Clásico with admiration. And with something else.

“All I could think while watching the game was: ‘We knocked this team out twice, my God!’” he admitted, half in disbelief, half in pride.

Respect for Barça, pride in Atleti

Because for all Barça’s dominance in the league, Atlético have bloodied their nose when it mattered most. Simeone’s men bundled the champions out of the Copa del Rey in the semi-finals, surviving a two-legged shootout to edge a 4–3 aggregate win. When the stage got even bigger in Europe, they did it again, eliminating Barça in the Champions League quarter-finals with a 3–2 aggregate victory.

Those nights have become part of Simeone’s identity at the club: the underdog who relishes the knockout, the team that drags the favourites into a fight and finds a way through.

Barcelona, though, still had the final word in the domestic head-to-head. Flick’s side took six points from six in La Liga against Atlético, a reminder that the champions have set the pace over 38 games even if they’ve stumbled in the cups.

For Simeone, that contrast only sharpened his sense of what Atlético had achieved.

“Barcelona is the team that plays the best in the world. They won the league playing very well, just like last season,” he said. The admiration was genuine. So was the competitive edge behind it.

Giménez scare eases ahead of Osasuna trip

Now the focus turns to El Sadar and a tricky trip to Osasuna, with Simeone juggling fitness concerns and the looming international summer.

The main worry had been José María Giménez. The Uruguayan defender took a knock against Celta Vigo, sparking fears of a serious lay-off that would have alarmed both Atlético and Uruguay with the World Cup on the horizon.

The diagnosis, though, brought relief.

“Luckily it is only a sprained ankle, and we hope he can arrive with strength at the World Cup to compete with Uruguay as he deserves,” Simeone confirmed.

That update allows Atleti to breathe, even if Giménez’s involvement against Osasuna remains a delicate call. Simeone hinted that the bench in Pamplona could have a different look, with youth stepping into the spotlight.

“We will look as always to make the best possible team,” he said, “and surely homegrown players will also participate and can take advantage of the beautiful occasion of playing with the first team.”

It is classic Simeone: demand, opportunity, and a reminder that the shirt must always be earned.

Chasing Villarreal, refusing excuses

The season’s story for Atlético is one of almosts. They toppled Barcelona in two major cup competitions, only to fall short at the final hurdles. After their dramatic Copa del Rey semi-final triumph, they lost the final to Real Sociedad. Their Champions League high against Barça was followed by a semi-final exit to Arsenal.

In the league, they are on course for fourth, six points behind Villarreal with three matches left. The margin is slim, the task clear. Win, and keep the pressure on. Slip, and third place disappears.

“Everything is real; there’s a slim chance in these last three matches that we can go to Villarreal with a chance to secure third place,” Simeone said.

He knows the odds. He is not interested in letting his players hide behind them.

Suggestions that Atlético might lack motivation with “little to play for” were brushed aside. Simeone went back to the basics of competition, to the roots of why players fall in love with the game in the first place.

“It’s like when you play with your friends, you want to win; that’s the stimulus this sport gives you. Even if you play at an amateur level, you play to win and have fun.”

For Atlético, that instinct has carried them through a decade of reinvention under Simeone. Barcelona may be champions again, playing the football their coach so openly admires, but the Argentine’s message is unchanged: every game is a fight worth winning.

Osasuna away. Girona at home. Villarreal on the final day. Three matches, a slim opening, and a coach who refuses to treat any of it as dead time.