Simeone: Atlético Madrid are close to becoming champions

London, United Kingdom - May 5: head coach Diego Simeone of Atletico Madrid looks on during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Semi Final Second Leg match between Arsenal FC and Atletico de Madrid at Arsenal Stadium on May 5, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Vince Mignott/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images) | DeFodi Images via Getty Images Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeone evaluated the 2025/26 season when he spoke to the media ahead of the team’s penultimate home game against Celta Vigo at the Estadio Riyadh Air Metropolitano on Saturday. With Champions League qualification now secured, Simeone was able to reflect on the season as a whole, as the best Atlético can do is hunt down Villarreal for third place.

“Of course Champions League qualification is extremely important, and it’s the club’s top priority. Just as Real Madrid and Barcelona’s top priority is to win the league title, our primary goal is to qualify for the Champions League, and our aim is to get closer to winning the title at some point,” Simeone said. “It’s clear that this was a season that’s hard to explain.

On the one hand, we had a Copa del Rey final that slipped away on penalties; a semifinal that the team fought extraordinarily hard to win, following an incredible quarterfinal match against Barcelona. I think that, given what we had to offer, we gave absolutely our all and even more. “It’s incredibly difficult to reach the position we’ve been in this season, and being so close always makes you feel like you could still be there.

It makes you angry, disappointed and frustrated. But today I’m okay, because I ask myself and tell myself: we have to be grateful for everything that’s been happening to us in recent years, where we came from, and I clearly remember where we came from, to where we are now, has seen tremendous growth, and the only way we can allow ourselves to have that hope and that new opportunity, like we had this year, is to keep trying, to keep working the way we’ve been working, to have reached four (Champions League) semifinals in 14 years, to have played in two Champions League finals, to always be there, in that place that seems far away, but isn’t really that far. “We’re very close to what we envisioned, but to get there, we need to keep working hard in every area, and if we do a good job in every area, it’s clear that the team will continue to grow,” Simeone continued.