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Atletico Madrid coach, Diego Simeone has praised his players for beating Arsenal in the Europa League second leg semi-final clash.
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Simeone was delighted to see his side make history at the Wanda Metropolitano with their win against the North London club.
Simeone’s men beat the Gunners 1-0 on Thursday night to qualify for this year’s Europa League final.
The Los Rojiblancos drew 1-1 last week in England and were favourites going into the leg at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Diego Costa’s 53rd minute strike where he held off the challenge of Hector Bellerin to coolly slot past goalkeeper David Ospina was the only goal of the night in the Spanish capital as Atletico qualified for the final with a 2-1 aggregate.
Simeone, who served a touchline ban, was delighted his team delivered at their new stadium.
“History is made in these kind of games and stadiums need to be fortresses and they are so with big games and big wins like this,” Simeone told UEFA.
“I felt how the atmosphere was. The fans were with us every step of the way, they knew the side needed them and it’s one of the first pages we’ve written in the history of the Metropolitano.”
“We are delighted to be there in the final, we’ve wanted to be back in a final ever since the last one we reached,” said the 48-year-old.
“The side responded so well last week, they suffered, [goalkeeper Jan] Oblak had a great game – but that’s what happens on these big nights, big players stand up to be counted and the team were up there with him at that level.
“We worked well this week and we felt good going into tonight.”
Atletico Madrid will now clash with Marseille in the Europa League final scheduled for May 16 in Lyon.
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