Moments after the defeat in Madrid, against Atlético (2-1), Eustaquio stressed that the team did “enough to score” and that “it’s not good enough to go home without points” given that the blue and whites had “several occasions”. The good performance of the blue and whites gave, however, a certainty to the midfielder: “After this match, I am sure that we will qualify from the group stage”. Pepe, in turn, pointed out that “the red card [shown to Taremi] had an impact” on the strategy and that the Dragons lost focus after that moment. “When you don’t do what the coach asks, you pay dearly. We have to take lessons from the final part of the match to not happen again”, the captain concluded.

Eustaquio
“We always felt we could win. They had some possession in the first-half, but couldn’t get a shot on goal. We managed to grow, we had several chances, but we didn’t score the goal before them. It’s not good enough and we have to go after the loss. It’s easy to play with Matheus. He’s an intelligent player, a beast in a good way. I’m almost his shadow, it’s easy to play with players of great quality and he’s one of them. We did enough to score here and it’s not good enough to go home without points for the support we had, for the quality we showed. It’s a shame we conceded the goal in the last minute of injury time. It’s a sad moment, but we have to look ahead. We go into every match to win, without exception, and, after this match, I’m sure we will qualify from the group stage.”

Pepe
“Yesterday I said we had to be patient, Atletico closes their way to goal a lot. We did well in the first-half, controlling their movements. I think their first shot in the second-half was after minute 35/40. Taremi’s red card affected our strategy, we tried to close the middle, they put a lot of people between the lines and we conceded a goal when we had a lot of people behind the ball. It’s hard to accept, we went after the tie, we got it and ended up conceding at the end. It’s very difficult to accept this defeat because the team worked well and didn’t deserve it. At the end of the first-half, we had a chance from Taremi. The coach asked us to stay focused, we tried to do what he asked us to do, but after the red card we had more heart than mind and when you don’t do what the coach asks, you pay dearly. That’s what happened in that corner-kick, and you always have to be focused. I particularly felt that our team did very well indeed. A very cohesive unit defending and attacking, a very mature team. We worked hard and kept our focus, but in the last few minutes, after the red card, we lost focus. We couldn’t concede two goals in the last few minutes. We need to learn from the end of the match so that it doesn’t happen again. I want to let David follow his path, he is a great player and will help us a lot.”