Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeone praised Antoine Griezmann for his outstanding goal against Real Madrid, securing a 4-2 victory in extra time and advancing to the Copa del Rey quarterfinals.
Both teams scored four goals in the initial 90 minutes.
Samuel Lino gave the hosts the lead in a tumultuous derby, resulting in 13 yellow cards, including one for Diego Simeone on the sideline.
An own goal by Jan Oblak leveled the score, Alvaro Morata netted against his former club, and Joselu extended the match to extra time.
Simeone said:
“A magical football player like Griezmann appeared.”
“He beat Vinícius,[Júnior] who is very quick, in a long race and put the ball into the top corner.
“Antoine scored a spectacular goal, perhaps his best we’ve seen.
We are lucky to have him here and that he wants to be here.
I hope he can bring us many more nights like this one.”
Griezmann, 32, became Atlético’s all-time top scorer when he found the back of the net in his team’s 5-3 loss to Real Madrid in the Spanish Supercopa semifinal on Jan. 10.
“We are delighted for Griezmann,” Atlético Madrid captain Koke said.
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“He scored a fantastic goal.
“We weren’t able to give Griezmann a win last week to celebrate his achievement of becoming the club’s all-time top scorer.
Today we can. It’s great to beat your eternal rivals in our stadium.”
Simeone, whose side had also inflicted Real Madrid‘s only previous loss of the season in September, thanked Atlético fans for creating a great atmosphere at the Metropolitano stadium.
“We were coming from the hotel to the stadium, and we saw something that made us proud and gives you extra strength to continue working.”
“You just forget for how many years we have been working already in the club.
It looks like we just have arrived to the club …. When we were arriving, we saw our fans excited and looking forward for the game,
a match that it is only the round of 16 of Copa del Rey … only the Round of 16!
“And you see our fans in that way and it is impossible to not give your all.
“We understood the match very well, we were better in the extra time, and I think we deserve to win. It is more important this win to our fans than to be playing the next round.”
