Simeone praised Suárez after his dream debut with Atlético

Luis Suárez took to the field in the 70th minute and immediately made a bold mark when he scored a double and brought one more assist to Marcos Llorente to score. The Uruguayan forward also introduced a penalty but was later rejected by the VAR.

Suárez scored with two different finishes. One was a brilliant header and the other was a subtle one-touch spike as the ball hit his feet. But coach Simeone was more impressed with the way Suarez created Llorente with just the second touch when the ball was present.

“Suárez’s two goals did not stand out for me because of the assists and the way he moved and ran without the ball. The changes brought us more strength from Llorente, Vitolo’s skill, Partey’s assertiveness. And Suárez knows what he has to do: it is to fight for the team.

Atlético are expected to compete with Real Madrid and Barcelona this season. And Simeone hopes that competition for the primary kick will help his players perform at their best.

“This race will depend on our effort, the depth of the squad and the safety of the players. The presence of an important player improves the team. But we are doing very well at the moment. Now we have to go game by game, as always.

The presence of Suárez generates a very good internal competition. If 23 players accept the amount of minutes they will get, I think we will compete well.

From my point of view, when I create a squad, I tend to target players who know how to shine and who accept that they will play sometimes and sometimes not. This creates a great team. That is what gives you the most options. That is what we seek in each season.

Xuan Phong