Diego Simeone swerves Celtic dark arts as Atletico Madrid boss talks up 'positives' in red card response

Defiant Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone put the full focus on the resilient second-half showing of his 10-man side against Celtic.

It was a Champions League night packed with talking points with the Spanish giants awarded a penalty after Greg Taylor was judged to have brought down Nahuel Molina in the 25th minute with the slightest of touches bringing down the Atletico full-back - allowing Antoine Greizmann to step and cancel out Kyogo Furuhashi's opening goal.

After Luis Palma gave the Hoops the lead again Alvaro Morata would head in an equaliser before Argentine midfielder Rodrigo de Paul saw red for a second yellow card. Simeone's side appeared happy to run down the clock - with Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart claiming at the full-time whistle that Atletico pulled out "all the tricks" to secure the point at Celtic Park.

But boss Simeone refused to be drawn on the criticism, instead flipped the script during his post-match press conference and focussed on the positives from the second-half showing. Asked about the sending off and wasting time for the draw against the Scottish Premiership draw, he said: “De Paul’s yellow card? I always focus on the positive, especially the improvement with Riquelme, who entered the game very well.

"Also, Llorente and Correa, who could have decided the match with a play that the goalkeeper prevented. It was two different halves.

"We didn’t start with the speed the game demanded, and they, after combining well, found their goals in the first two plays. It was an uphill battle, but Riquelme’s entrance improved us on the left, Llorente on the second, we had the chance to win, but even with ten players, the team knew how to handle it, and that makes me happy.”