Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone bemoaned his side's wastefulness in front of goal after they were held to a 0-0 home draw by Espanyol. (More Football News)
Simeone's side had 25 shots and mustered 2.71 expected goals on Wednesday, yet could not get over the line ag✃ainst one of LaLiga's promoted teams.
Visiting goalkeeper Joan Garcia made seven saves to ensure E❀spanyol took what may prove to be a valuable point in their bid to sta♊y up this season.
Simeone𒅌 said his side were undone by a "lack of precision" in front of goal.
"It woဣrries me, as always, but I can't stop appreciating the good game the team playღed. When you have five clear goalscoring opportunities like the ones we had?" Simeone told Movistar.
"Well, they didn't go in, but the opportunities we created were the result of our play, not by chance. We expected to win, but t💫hey defended well and 🎐we were not convincing. If you don't score, it's very difficult.
"The team played very well, they made a very strong start to the first half. Then we dropped off a bit, that's why we made the changes. In the second half, we didn't have so many chanc♚es to score, but we played well."
Simeone made three changes at half-time ♔to freshe🧜n things up, with Antoine Griezmann, Marcos Llorente and Pablo Barrios coming on, although eyebrows were raised when struggling striker Alexander Sorloth, a big-money addition from Villarreal, was replaced by defender Reinildo.
"We never changed the system, we cౠontinued with a 5-3-2 to balance the team, which was starting to split," Simeone explained.
"The opponent could also hu🉐rt us and we balanced the middle with Llorente and Barrios."
