Atlético Madrid midfielder Conor Gallagher said on Friday that the team has moved on from the painful Champions League exit against Real Madrid in a controversial penalty shootout on Wednesday.
Gallagher said he has already put his focus on another crucial game that awaits on Sunday, this time against Barcelona in a tight LaLiga leaders race.
“It [Champions League] is a performance to be proud of and we’re gonna take that feeling that we had from the loss and take it into our next match as motivation,” Gallagher told ESPN. “Maybe we didn’t have all the luck in that game, which is unfortunate, but you can say that a lot of times this season we did.”
Atlético prevailed 1-0 at the Metropolitano on Wednesday thanks to Gallagher’s early goal, levelling the tie at 2-2, but Real went through in a penalty shootout to face Arsenal in the quarterfinals.
“Of course it can be difficult on the mental side of things to get over a loss like we did and make sure we are 100 prepared for such a big game, but we can use it as motivation and fire to give our best performance against Barcelona because they are the team to beat.”
Atlético are a point behind both Barcelona and Real Madrid in the three-way battle for the trophy, with Barça having played one less match.
Diego Simeone’s team cannot afford to lose on Sunday, and must quickly get over the excruciating defeat of Wednesday’s UCL “derby.”
Atlético lost in a penalty shootout after Julián Álvarez’s spot kick was disallowed for a double touch. Only a video review spotted the first contact when Álvarez’s support foot slid and gently nudged the ball before he impacted it with his other foot and sent it into the net.
“What happened, happened, unfortunately. It can happen to anyone,” Gallagher said. “Obviously it is a shame that it had to happen at that moment but it is football and these things can happen.”
Gallagher said he was not aware of the UEFA review, but added that it was meaningless for his team and useless to dwell upon it.
“If he [Álvarez] touched it twice then what can the ref do?” Gallagher said. “It is what it is. If there are rules there, those are the rules.
“The game is done so it doesn’t change anything.”
Simeone, however, conceded that overcoming the loss would be difficult.
“Honestly, it isn’t easy to get over the way we lost this tie. We can’t lie to ourselves,” Simeone said after the match.
Simeone acknowledged that Barcelona could have an advantage both physically and emotionally after Hansi Flick’s side got an extra day’s rest following its victory over Benfica on Tuesday to advance to the Champions League quarterfinals.
“We face a great rival on Sunday. I image the Barcelona’s players were wanting our game to go as long as it could, to reach penalties,” Simeone said. “We will arrive tired and beat up after having fought hard in a tie that demanded we give it our all, but we will throw everything we have left [at Barcelona].”
Atlético have presented a great challenge to Barcelona twice this season. Late goals by Alexander Sorloth snatched a 2-1 win at Barcelona in the league and a 4-4 draw in the opening leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal.
“We know how Barcelona can play and they play so well as a team so we know how focused we need to be defensively to try not to concede,” Gallagher said. “And we need to do our stuff with the ball as well to try to create chances and score and make sure we are all on the same game plan and I am sure we have a good chance.”
Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski said his team he had grown from that league loss to Atlético in December.
“I think that in the beginning of the year after the games, not only against Atlético at home but also two games, or 3 games before that we didn’t play well,” he told ESPN.
“We know that we have to take the lesson from these games and try to do this better in the second part of the season and I think we learned a lot.
“I think and I hope that this season, the second part, because of this period, what happened in December can help us a lot.”
Barcelona have gone unbeaten in 17 straight games over all competitions since that loss to Atlético in late December.
Gallagher acknowledged that Barcelona have regained top form and are playing like a team to beat.
“They went through a tough patch at one point but everyone can see this season they have been brilliant, so we know what they can do and we need ot be fully ready for their threat and I am sure we will be,” he said.
Atlético will also host Barcelona next month to decide their Copa del Rey semifinal.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
>
