Simeone 'loved' how sixth-tier opposition played against Atletico Madrid in tight cup win

Diego Simeone was in good spirits following Atletico Madrid's first-round victory in the Copa del Rey, despite them having taken 81 minutes to find the net against sixth-tier opposition.

Julian Alvarez opened the scoring with a penalty against UE Vic, before a late second wrapped up a 2-0 victory against stubborn opposition.

Alvarez became the second LaLiga player to have scored in three different competitions this season, after Kylian Mbappe.

But Simeone was more concerned with giving praise to the opposition team rather than finding faults with his own after the match, having named a strong side.

"For us it was not a surprise, we had seen some of the opponent’s games," he said, as quoted in AS.

"I loved how they played with passion, commitment, with intensity every ball and the search to respond to our tactics.

3 - Julián Álvarez has become the second @LaLigaEN player to have scored in three different competitions (Champions League, LaLiga and Copa del Rey) this season after Kylian Mbappe. Spider.@atletienglish #AtleticoMadrid #Copa pic.twitter.com/ROedXLlBzG

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) October 31, 2024

"I'm happy for the opponent because they demanded of us, they made us generate situations that, for the moment we are going through, the goal was going to cost as much as it did.

"In the first [half] we had chances and we couldn’t score, then the penalty came and Julian's goal that secured the win."

Atleti finished with 2.65 expected goals (xG), with 13 of their 16 shots coming from inside the box.

While Simeone was pleased to progress to the next round, he will undoubtedly be expecting an improvement when Atletico host Las Palmas in LaLiga on Sunday.