Diego Simeone explained why he rates Barcelona because the ‘best team in La Liga’ after his Atletico Madrid side drew with arch-rivals Real Madrid.
Real Madrid held on to top spot within the Spanish top-flight as Kylian Mbappe’s second-half goal cancelled out Julian Alvarez’s first-half penalty on the Bernabeu.
Atletico were awarded a controversial penalty following a VAR check after Aurelien Tchouameni was adjudged to have fouled Samuel Lino.
Former Manchester City forward Alvarez audaciously chipped the ball down the center past the diving Thibaut Courtois to silence the house crowd.
A derby win would have sent Atletico Madrid top of La Liga but Mbappe scored an equaliser shortly after the interval along with his sixteenth league goal of the season.
Jude Bellingham’s blocked shot gave Mbappe the possibility to level and the England midfielder continued to threaten as Real Madrid chased a winner, hitting the crossbar with a header and seeing a shot saved by Jan Oblak.
The rating remained 1-1, nonetheless, leaving Real Madrid only one point above Atletico Madrid within the La Liga table and five ahead of Barcelona, who can cut the gap once they visit Sevilla on Sunday.
‘I still insist that Barcelona is the most effective team in La Liga,’ Simeone said after the Madrid derby.
‘They attack thoroughly, they’ve incredible speed of their players, they usually play thoroughly as a team. Let’s see in the event that they win tomorrow. It’ll be fun to see the journalists enjoy this tight race at the highest.’
Discussing his team’s performance within the Madrid derby, Simeone added: ‘I believe in the primary half, we had a excellent first half.
‘We weren’t as clinical in the ultimate metres to reap the benefits of the possibilities that we had. We could have taken those higher.
‘Within the second half, it began early with their goal, they played more intensely within the second half.
‘After 20 minutes or so, we had more essential probabilities, Julian, Llorente twice, and in the long run it ended with a draw where each teams probably feel that we could have taken more.’
Asked whether he felt it was a case of two points dropped moderately than some extent gained, Simeone added: ‘I respect all opinions. I see what I see, what I said before.
‘We could’ve taken our probabilities, our counters, controls near the box, somewhat higher, with more clarity as we now have in other games.
‘Within the second half, it was a special game they usually pushed more. Their goal, then they hit the woodwork. And it ended with that situation.
‘There have been probabilities to take the sport, but we couldn’t do it clearly. That meant that we had to attract. Obviously, we had the sensation that we could’ve won it for much of the sport.’
Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti, meanwhile, felt his team ‘deserved more’ and refused to debate Atletico’s controversial penalty.
‘I believe we deserved more,’ he said. ‘It was a excellent game within the second half. The primary half was totally different.
‘We got here out with good feelings, especially within the second half. The penalty situation affected the team. We played too slowly before.
‘Within the second half we took advantage of the width of the sphere. It was an in depth, competitive match. As I said, we got here out of the match with a draw, but encouraged.’
Real Madrid now turn their attentions to a mouth-watering Champions League play-off clash against Manchester City.
Atletico Madrid, already safely through to the knockout stages, face Celta Vigo next weekend.
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