(Reuters) -Atletico Madrid have lost four and drawn one of their last five matches in all competitions but manager Diego Simeone said on Tuesday that the LaLiga club were having a very good season.
Atletico suffered a major blow in the LaLiga title race when they slumped to a 4-2 home loss to Barcelona followed by a 1-1 draw at relegation-threatened Espanyol on Saturday, putting them nine points behind leaders Barca and six adrift second-placed Real Madrid with nine games remaining.
Atletico host Barca in the Copa del Rey semi-final second leg on Wednesday, with the tie evenly poised after they came back from two goals down to rescue a last-gasp 4-4 draw in the first game.
“I’m talking about my feeling, the team is having a very good season, it competed very well in the Champions League (where they suffered a round of 16 exit) and is doing very well in the league. We are constantly taking it one game at a time,” Simeone told reporters.
“We have to continue as we have always worked, with enthusiasm, joy, intensity. The same way we worked in the first game against Malaga.”
When asked about the goals conceded in previous matches against Barca, the Argentine replied: “It doesn’t seem strange to me because the rival plays with the same intensity the whole game.
“They are going to have goal situations, they play in a very brave way and we have to try to go through the best moments of the game and isolate them from that potential.”
Defenders Cesar Azpilicueta, Reinildo Mandava and Javi Serrano are available to face Barca after fitness issues.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
