Simeone: Atletico still in ‘construction phase’

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Diego Simeone said Atletico Madrid only had themselves to blame for their Champions League defeat to Liverpool, but acknowledged his team are still under construction. 

Atletico began their European campaign with a 2-1 defeat at Anfield on Wednesday, despite Marcos Llorente giving the LaLiga giants a 17th-minute lead. 

Dominik Szoboszlai hauled Liverpool level five minutes before half-time with Alexis Mac Allister’s left-footed drive early in the second half completing the comeback for the Reds. 

In Champions League games where Atletico have scored the opening goal, this was just the second time in the last 14 occasions that they have lost (W10 D2). 

Liverpool also recorded their fourth-straight win over Atletico in major European competition, continuing their mixed start to their 2026-27 campaign. 

After going three games unbeaten to begin their LaLiga campaign, Atletico were swept aside by Athletic Club 3-0 before their defeat on Merseyside. 

In their first five matches across all competitions, Simeone’s side have already conceded eight goals, an area the Atletico boss said needed to improve moving forwards. 

“The details are important, we are conceding many goals. Three against Bilbao, one against Sevilla, two against Liverpool,” Simeone told reporters.

“I have said we are in a construction phase, people don’t like to hear that, but we are building. I think the team played the type of game they needed to play.

“We have to start interpreting certain moments when you have to play in one way or change that, and I think that is why we ended up conceding the goals we conceded.

“But the team gave everything. We want to grow, and we have to accept the small details that make it not worthwhile what we have done. A defeat wipes out any positives.”

Fulltime in Liverpool. pic.twitter.com/k0eVkmiAqg

— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) September 9, 2026

Simeone also tasted defeat against Andoni Iraola for the very first time, having gone unbeaten in his previous four encounters against him in LaLiga. 

However, the Liverpool boss revealed that Simeone’s decision to start with three central defenders caught him off guard.

The two teams were closely matched in the first half, with Liverpool’s expected goals (xG) total of 0.77 just edging Atletico’s tally of 0.62 from the same number of shots. 

“When the changes came in when we went behind, we looked for different solutions to allow us to get back in the game,” Simeone added. 

“We didn’t have many chances in the first half. I don’t know if we had many chances in the second, but the details in football are what makes you up there or down there.

“We needed to adjust things because lots of the goals we concede are on us.”

Simeone’s other surprise was to include Julian Alvarez in his starting line-up following a summer of transfer speculation linking him with a move to LaLiga rivals Barcelona. 

Alvarez slipped into Llorente for Atletico’s opener, while he also registered a team-high total number of shots on target, one of which forced Alisson Becker into making a fine stop. 

“Julian was fantastic, he wanted the ball all the time from minute one to minute 90,” Simeone said of Alvarez’s performance.

“I spoke to him in the morning, he spoke very well, and I decided he would play, and I am glad he did.”

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