Simeone: Atletico Madrid not fighting for the title

Diego Simeone says Atletico Madrid are not in the Liga title race, claiming they continue to be locked in their own championship battle with Valencia and Sevilla. The reigning Spanish champions could have drawn to within five points of new leaders Barcelona by defeating fourth-placed Valencia at the Vicente Calderon on Sunday - but the Rojiblancos were held to a 1-1 draw by Nuno Santo's side. The result means Atletico remain just one point above Los Che in the automatic Chamoions League places, with Sevilla a further five behind in fifth. Simeone has been saying for weeks that his team's aim is to stay ahead of the sides below them rather than reel in Barca and city rivals Real Madrid, who lost to Athletic Bilbao this weekend. Consequently, he was reasonably happy that Atleti had followed up a 0-0 draw at Sevilla last weekend by taking another point from the visit of Valencia. "I will not give you a headline by saying that we are fighting for La Liga," the Argentine told reporters after the game. "The league is long and our championship now is against Valencia and Sevilla, neither of whom managed to beat us in these last two games." Simeone confessed Atletico had not done enough to hold onto the first-half lead given to them by Koke and felt Valencia were good value for their 78th-minute equaliser from Shkodran Mustafi. "We did very well in the first half," said the coach. "We pressed them, played the game in their half and we won our duels. "However, in the second half, we didn't play in the same way. We didn't continue with the intention of owning the middle of the park and Valencia had more control of the ball as a result. "We played 10-15 metres deeper and didn't press well, so a draw is a fair result." source: goal