After Feyenoord’s victory, Diego Simeone of Atletico Madrid sends a message to Alvaro Morata and praises Celtic

Atletico Madrid are via to the knockout stages with a game to spare in their Champions League group, after they cruised to a 3-1 win over Feyenoord in the Netherlands. As supervisor Diego Simeone pointed out, this is no longer a luxurious they have loved in latest years.

Los Rojiblancos beat Feyenoord courtesy of two own desires and a Mario Hermoso strike that appeared at the start like a cross. They may want to have been more desires to the right through Alvaro Morata, however as befell in their clash towards Real Mallorca, he used to be now not effective

“Let’s no longer start saying bad things after two games barring scoring and create an atmosphere. He is fine, calm and with the self assurance of the crew and the teaching staff. The aim will come, I informed him so at half-time. Don’t worry, the plays are there and naturally he will score again.”

Simeone was impressed with his own side’s motion of the ball against the Dutch giants, however did slip in a observe of praise for Celtic, who had been eradicated from Europe after a 2-0 defeat to Lazio.

“The opponent that pressed us best have been Celtic at their ground. Feyenoord is a group that tries to press, though they right away retreated because they noticed that they ought to not acquire a foothold due to the top circulation that the group has. There used to be Witsel, Gimenez, Mario… additionally Rodrigo and Koke to generate a block of play. The crew wished this and we attempt to support them.”

El Cholo would no longer be drawn on whether or not he notion they may want to combine it with the biggest sides, instead telling Diario AS how top Samuel Lino and Rodrigo Riquelme were.

“We are right here to compete with whoever we have to compete with. From a humble position, and wanting to improve, we comprehend our defects and from there we attempt to beautify our virtues. There were very appropriate character performances, Riquelme especially. Some of you may have thought why I put Riquelme and not Lino. I believed that Riquelme ought to give us that shielding work that used to be fantastic and offensively very powerful.”

Simeone’s side are in first-class fettle this season, and with the exception of two defeats to Las Palmas and Valencia in La Liga, have had the higher in the big majority of games. They take on Barcelona this Sunday in a crunch clash, as Simeone appears for his first ever league victory over the Blaugrana in Catalonia.

Postecogou’s signing at Celtic appears to be over, with Rodgers eyeing a £4 million January deal

For all the reward that Ange Postecoglou rightly obtained with regards to his recruitment at Celtic – Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda, Kyogo Furuhashi, Matt O’Riley and Liel Abada all arriving on his watch – there was once still the peculiar leave out in a sea of hits.

Take Alexandro Bernabei for instance.

A £3.75 million acquisition from Argentinian outfit Lanus, Bernabei arrived at Celtic beforehand of Postecoglou’s 2nd season at the helm amid lofty expectations and words of encouragement from the straight-talking Hoops boss.

“I spoke to the manager,” Bernabei told Sky Sports at the time. “And he said he believed in me and my pleasant and that I can adapt to the crew quickly.”

Is Alexandro Bernabei finished at Celtic?

Postecoglou’s judgement, for once, proved to be misplaced. With Greg Taylor turning into some thing of a posterboy for the Ange-era – greedy the manager’s inverted full-back approach brilliantly – Bernabei struggled, lacking the sure-footed approach to thrive in a possession-based device as nicely as Taylor’s defensive solidity.

“Alexandro Bernabei has been a disappointing signing hence far,” former Hoops hero Kris Commons told the Daily Mail in March.

“Celtic paid £3.75 million to signal him from Argentina last summer. But it’s Taylor who has ended up having an magnificent season.

“(Taylor) has rightly stored Bernabei out of the team.”

Things haven’t received any easier for the Argentina U23 worldwide underneath Postecoglou’s alternative either. Brendan Rodgers, after all, shares an awful lot of his predecessor’s tactical principles. That cameo appearance in the 6-0 hammering of Aberdeen before the November international break was only his third outing of the entire campaign. Perhaps the largest setback in his Celtic profession arrived two months earlier. Bernabei was overlooked with the aid of Rodgers from Celtic’s Champions League roster.

If that was once the first nail in Bernabei’s Celtic coffin, then reviews from The Telegraph linking the Glasgow giants with a workable £4 million move for Estoril’s Tiago Araujo can also be the second.

Celtic eye Tiago Araujo

22-year-old Araujo, a Benfica academy graduate like Jota and Paulo Bernardo, has two goals and three assists for Estoril this term. Dividing his time between left-back and similarly ahead on the wing.

Valentin Barco, every other Argentine, was also linked a couple of weeks ago. He is in all likelihood to be too high priced for Celtic in excess of £10 million. But do no longer rule out Manchester City signing the Boca Juniors flyer earlier than loaning him to Parkhead, a la John Guidetti, Jason Denayer and Patrick Roberts.

But with Araujo a true possibility, Bernabei looks destined to go down as one of those rare Postecoglou misses.

Brendan Rodgers watches Leicester dispute renew as star reveals he still doesn’t get Celtic manager’s ‘twin brother’ jab

The Danish defender used to be recruited by using Rodgers in 2021 but fell down his pecking order while at Leicester.

Leicester City defender Jannik Vestergaard nonetheless does not comprehend what Brendan Rodgers meant when he made his “twin brother” comment.

The Danish defender gave an interview in the past this year announcing his exile from a then Rodgers-led Leicester side was once “strange” and that the 30-year-old had not been given a purpose for not starting a Premier League game underneath the Irishman for over a year. Vestergaard is now flourishing under Enzo Maresca in the English Championship, but drew the ire of Rodgers at the time who told the media he was unsure if he had been speaking with the centre-half’s “twin brother” alternatively of him for the previous year and a half.

Vestergaard was signed via Rodgers in the summer time of 2021 from Southampton and was once pressed in a podcast interview about the struggles he confronted since making the switch from the Saints. He reckons he is overcome a lot of “challenges” and still would not quite apprehend what the now Celtic boss used to be getting at with his remarks in the media.

He told BBC’s When You’re Smiling podcast: “Yes, it has been up and down. Right now I am in a very desirable place, the membership is in a very good place. I’m blissful to be be where I am, I would be mendacity if I said there wasn’t a small experience of delight of overcoming a undertaking in that length to be capable to show a bit extra of myself. That is the most I prefer to go in to whatever that has happened.

“You can ask questions, that is your job. I did hear it (twin brother claim) I didn’t understand and do not know precisely what it means. I do not have something to say about whatever that befell in the previous with people no longer at the club. I have no intention of speakme about it. I can only once more reiterate how completely happy I am, the place we are as a club and what we are optimistically moving towards.”

Rodgers stated in March this year: “I’ve not talked too a great deal on it because it was once an unauthorised interview. I’ve spoken to Jannik and I had to make certain I was talking to him as I’d viewed in his quote he didn’t comprehend why (he used to be not playing).

“I’ve spoken to Jannik and I had to make positive I was once talking to him as I’d considered in his quote he did not be aware of why (he was no longer playing). I had to make sure I wasn’t speaking to his twin brother for the remaining 14-15 months. We have revered him when he has decided to stay and that conversation has usually been there. The conversation with him and the membership has usually been there, about the place he stands.

“I used to be amazed when I saw it. Anything which has occurred we will deal with internally and we’ll cross on from there. Any success we’ve ever had has been with solidarity on and off the pitch and that’s something I’ll constantly seem to be to protect