Diego Simeone turns on Atletico stars after shock loss as key attacker is ruled out of Man Utd clash

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone admitted his side performed poorly in Wednesday’s 1-0 home defeat to Levante – and was also left to rue a costly injury that has seen a key player ruled out against Manchester United next week.

Atleti came into the match against bottom-placed Levante with a place in the top four up for grabs. Instead, they succumbed to a poor defeat to gift their opponents just their second win of the season. After falling behind to a 54th minute goal, Atletico though they had equalised in stoppage time only for Angel Correa’s goal to be ruled out. To make matters worse, Brazilian striker Matheus Cunha injured his knee and will miss several weeks of action.

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Diego Simeone said in his post-match press conference: “We played a bad game. We lost a beautiful opportunity to move into a good situation in La Liga and we will have to make a doubt effort.

“Defeats always hurt. It will always bother and hurt me. Today I’m relaxed and tomorrow we talk for a while to say what I think and to see what they feel.

“The team were full of excitement and enthusiasm before the games. We came from a complicated win.

“We didn’t know how to take advantage of it, and now we have to make a double effort.”

When quizzed on his side’s chances of finishing in the top four and the Champions