Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone are inseparable. It is the Argentine manager who took the club to the European elite and made them one of the biggest clubs in world football. Meanwhile, the club too has protected Simeone through thick and thin in return.

Los Rojiblancos have endured a difficult start to the season so far and hit a new low last week when they finished bottom of their group in the UEFA Champions League. While Simeone is under pressure, it has been reported that the administration have full faith in him.

The Argentine spoke to the media earlier this week and discussed a plethora of topics including his time at the club and behind-the-scenes secrets. Here are the snippets from his interview.

On his special bond with Atletico Madrid: “Atlético is a very strong part of my life. Sport has always accompanied me, living and wanting to progress, having more sporting ambition, looking for what is happening to me, coming to this club, taking it to the place where I always thought I could be.”

On his passion for the club: “When you’ve been identified with something for so long, it’s because you have passion. Otherwise, you wouldn’t do it. The day this goes out I’m going to one side because I don’t know how to give half. It’s all or nothing.”

On rumours about his future in the media: “You always end up reading something, it’s a lie that you don’t read anything. If I have to go by the cycle, after four years they already told me that the cycle was over.”

On his never-say-never attitude: “I believe that until the end you have to give everything. Even when you realize that people do not follow you, then you do have to run, because that place is unnecessary.”

On the challenges in the dressing room: “When we are champions, everyone goes for the search to improve their contract, and the club does not want to lose players. It is very difficult to want to support important footballers.”

On the challenges of winning a trophy Atletico: “Becoming champion with Atlético, first it’s very difficult, and then it’s complicated, because when you become champion a problem appears, not something better going forward. Since you’re not used to being champion.”

On what he looks for in a player: “I value technical quality and talent, it’s important, but the difference is absolutely emotional. Each of the players now is very different from the one we lived with so many years ago.”

On his close competitors in Spain: “They have everything and it would seem that they have everything easier, but not for them, because that’s what they lived through. We have to be close to them continuously.”

On handling club legends and veterans: “It keeps happening to me with guys who have been playing for a long time in the team, who play and think they are Maradona, and you don’t put them on and it seems like total frustration. When they have to come in, that frustration is in the brain and It doesn’t make you surrender to the best version”.

On Rodrigo De Paul: “De Paul knows that we are going to demand a lot from him. He has to show the club and the team everything he does in the Argentine National Team. What he does in the National Team is fantastic”.

On the midfielder’s performances: “Sometimes he does very well here and there are times when he has less continuity. We need him. Hopefully, he continues to improve.”

Source: DirecTV