Diego Simeone Praises Substitute Fernando Torres for His Impact against Valencia

The manager of Atletico Madrid – Diego Simeone – praised the 31-year-old substitute Fernando Torres for his goalscoring performance at the club’s 3-1 victory over Valencia on March 6th.

The team of Atletico Madrid took the lead early thanks to the long-range strike of Antoine Griezmann, but Valencia managed to level the score right before the break with a goal of Denis Cheryshev. However, Diego Simeone’s side managed to take control after the break thanks to the great work of their attacking substitutes Fernando Torres and Yannick Carrasco, both of whom scored a goal in the half-time.

The manager of the Rohiblancos Diego Simeone commented on his side’s performance in the post-game news conference. He praised Torres’ game and said that his experience had helped a lot in the match. The forward, who is also part of Spain national football team, is to be out of his contract with the Spanish No.2 club in June 2016.

The club’s head coach commented that the 31-year-old forward had demonstrated his seniority in the Sunday’s game and said he was very happy with his men’s performance in general. According to him, it was exactly Atletico Madrid who deserved to win the game, as they did their best to play “very good football.”

The Spanish grand is coming back to form exactly on time, especially considering their 1-0 win over Real Madrid on February 27th. Still, they remain well-adrift of the table’s leader Barcelona in the race for La Liga title.

Atletico Madrid’s manager preferred to talk about his future goals in more general terms. He said that the club were to remain competitive by believing they could improve themselves. He also explained that keeping the squad in good form is not that easy with many different players, who are also relatively young.

Up to date, the average age of the team is 24. Eight players of the club’s starting eleven were either 24 or even younger, with Simeone saying that it is not easy for a manager to make such young players believe that the prosperity of the team should be their paramount priority. He also praised the 20-year-old centre-back Lucas Hernandez and the 22-year-old midfielder Matias Kranevitter for their great performances.

Currently, Atletico Madrid occupy the second position in La Liga table with a total of 64 points on their record. There is a 12-point gap between them and leaders Barcelona, who have 72 points. The third position is occupied by Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid, who are four points behind Atletico in La Liga table to date.