I et interview med goal.com taler Barcelona-legende ud om Champions League aktuelle Atletico og de ny kronede engelske mestre fra Leicester.
Af Frederik Andersen
Carles Puyol roser Diego Simeones fantastiske Atletico Madrid og tager afstand fra sin tidligere holdkammerat Xavis nylige kritik af deres spillestil.
I et interview med goal.com taler den pensionerede centrale forsvarsspiller om sin store respekt for Simeones mandskabs evne til at kæmpe med i toppen af La Liga til trods for sine beskedne ressource.
“(Atletico) play as a team, they all work a lot and, yes, they are not very offensive, but that is a virtue. They have quality throughout their team, but particularly at the back.”
Da Puyol blev spurgt, om han delte Xavis synspunkt – at Atleticos defensive tilgang til spillet ikke er passende til en “storklub” – var han hurtig til at distancere sig. Puyol indrømmede, at han på ingen måde er enig i Xavis kritik af Atleticos taktikker.
“I respect Simeone a lot because he knows how to make the most of the weapons at his disposal. Their opponents really need to study them to find a way past them. Since he was in Argentina, Simeone has done well. At Atleti, his work speaks for itself: fighting it out with Barcelona and Madrid and still winning titles – that’s amazing.”
(Foto af Hector Vivas / Getty Images)
I samme interview fik Puyol også mulighed for at knytte en kommentar til Leicester City. Holdet som vandt Premier League denne sæson med et lignende forsigtigt og kontra-angribende system.
“It’s amazing, I’m happy for them, they’ve done a terrific job. They started very well and, in the end, they believed in themselves and managed to win a league that is so hard to conquer because of the presence of so many big teams.”
“In Spain, someone could also ‘do a Leicester’. Football is about dynamisn and self-belief. Of course, it’s almost impossible to compete with Barcelona and Madrid but look at what Atletico are doing.”
