Diego
Simeone does not appear convinced by Atletico Madrid's LaLiga title
chances because of the form of Barcelona star Lionel Messi.
Atleti
closed to within nine points of the league leaders with eight games
left to play thanks to Sunday's 1-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna.
Barca
had looked set to lose their first top-flight match of the season 24
hours earlier, only for Lionel Messi to come off the bench and inspire
his side to rally from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Sevilla.
And Simeone thinks his compatriot is the key difference between the top two teams.
"We're having a very important league campaign. We've already seen what happened at Sevilla," he told a news conference.
"Without Messi, Sevilla would have won 2-0. With Messi on the pitch, Barca won 2-0, although the final score was 2-2.
"Messi is the decisive factor. We want to keep improving our numbers from last season."
Atleti,
who were missing the suspended Antoine Griezmann, claimed a relatively
comfortable three points over struggling Deportivo thanks to Kevin
Gameiro's first-half penalty.
Simeone
felt his players allowed their level to drop in the second half but was
pleased with the result, especially in the wake of a busy international
break.
"We
had the difficulty of the suspended players but we responded with a
result that we needed," he said. "A lot of players left for their
national teams and played two games.
"The first half was better than the second, we got the goal and we had another chance.
"We
faced a team in need of results. Deportivo played an intense game, with
danger, they never wanted to give up the game, and we couldn't finish
it off."
(yahoo sports)
(yahoo sports)