Diego Simeone hails Julian Alvarez progress as Atletico Madrid sink Man Utd in Champions League

Simeone was quick to support Alvarez after the former Manchester City man experienced a divisive reaction from the Atletico faithful on Tuesday night. Despite Atleti securing a 2-0 win over Man Utd, Alvarez was met with both cheers and whistles when he was substituted in the 71st minute, with some supporters still frustrated by his attempts to force a move away from the club during the summer transfer window.

Addressing the atmosphere in his post-match press conference, Simeone remained steadfast in his belief that the forward is trending in the right direction. "The fans' reaction is always related to what the players give. Julian is giving it; he already did it against Alaves, today he was close to scoring and he is closer to being the player that Atletico fans want to see," simeone said, as cited by Marca.

Looking ahead to future tactical setups, Simeone highlighted the potential of deploying Alvarez and Jonathan David together in attack. David came off the bench an hour into the match, and Simeone then substituted Alvarez ten minutes later. Rather than viewing the two forwards as mutually exclusive options for a single starting role, he emphasized that they are fully capable of sharing the pitch and complementing each other's skill sets in a shared frontline.

"They can also play together. It's good to have high competition; it has always been important when we have won championships and important things," he stated.

While Alvarez occupied the headlines, Simeone also reserved significant praise forJohnny Cardoso. The midfielder was a standout performer, bossing the centre of the pitch for the full 90 minutes. Cardoso was unfortunate not to get on the scoresheet himself, as a first-half strike was chalked off following a VAR review for a handball by teammate Marcos Llorente during the build-up.

Cardoso has endured a difficult start to life in Madrid due to injuries, but he appears to have finally found his rhythm in the starting XI. "He's in great form. Against Real Sociedad, he came on and immediately started playing at a high level, the kind of player the club went looking for. Morten also came on well, which gives us options within a team that needs to rely on everyone," Simeone noted.

Despite the comfortable margin of victory, Simeone suggested that his team could have been even more ruthless in front of goal. The manager highlighted that while Ma Utd had one significant opportunity in the first half, Atletico were the protagonists for the majority of the contest. The victory keeps their European campaign on track as they look to build momentum ahead of a busy domestic schedule in La Liga.

The manager concluded by expressing his satisfaction with the team's collective mentality. "We had chances to go further ahead on the scoreboard. They had one dangerous chance in the first half, but we had a better game, we had more chances. The team was always looking for more," Simeone added.