Koke hails Simeone ahead of 1000-day landmark - 7M sport

Koke hails Simeone ahead of 1000-day landmark



Posted Saturday, September 20, 2014 by Foxsports.com

Rising Atletico Madrid star Koke has hailed the impact made by Diego Simeone on both his career and the club.

Koke hails Simeone ahead of 1000-day landmark

This week, the Argentinian coach celebrates 1,000 days in the Rojiblancos hotseat.

Simeone has been a phenomenal success at the Vicente Calderon since replacing Gregorio Manzano in December 2011, leading Atletico to their first Primera Division title since 1996 last season as well as reaching their first Champions League final.

The 44-year-old has also won the Europa League, Copa del Rey, UEFA Super Cup and Spanish Supercopa during his three years in charge, as well as helping to develop the careers of players such as Diego Costa.

Koke is another who has made impressive progress under Simeone, and the 22-year-old Spain international has highlighted the role of his coach in that.

He said in AS: "For me, the personal treatment I've received from El Cholo (Simeone) means a lot. He's given me confidence and showed me that I can go out onto the pitch and be myself - with conviction and courage."

"He has made a massive impact here, both for the club and personally with the players and fans."

Simeone is currently serving an eight-game touchline ban for his actions in the Supercopa win over Real Madrid so he will again be absent from the bench for Saturday's visit of Celta Vigo.

Atletico go into that match having picked up seven points from their three league matches, but they suffered a setback on Tuesday when they were beaten 3-2 by Olympiacos in their opening Champions League match.

Koke said: "It hurts to have lost because we really wanted to get off to a good start in the competition. It wasn't to be but at least we still have our home games to focus on. We have to be strong at home and win."

"We consider it as precisely that - a blip. We have had some high-level games and we needed to take all three points from Saturday's game."

Celta make the trip to the capital in fifth spot, one place below defending champions Atletico, after starting their campaign with a win over Getafe and draws against Cordoba and Real Sociedad.

They would have been in an even better situation but last weekend they surrendered a 2-0 lead with 21 minutes to go against Sociedad, whose equaliser came from a Jonny Castro own goal in stoppage time.

Castro is hoping for better this weekend, telling www.lavozdegalicia.es: "We're really looking forward to the game, like every week, although after what happened last week, maybe even more so."

"We want to have a good game against an opponent who we know are not going to make things easy, but against whom we're going to give it everything."



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