Sport

Atletico Madrid clinch berth in Champions League knockout stage

Madrid, Dec 11 (EFE).- Atletico Madrid defeated Lokomotiv Moscow 2-0 here Wednesday to punch their ticket for the 2019-2020 Champions League knockout stage.Two-time Champions finalists Atleti entered Match Day 6 with 7 points, just 1 more than Bayer Leverkusen, their rivals for the remaining round-of-16 berth from Group D.The Colchoneros put aside their recent troubles in LaLiga to dominate Lokomotiv in front of their supporters at Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano.Atletico had a chance to take the lead in the opening minute on a penalty, but Kieran Trippier failed to convert and it was left to the Spanish's club new star, Joao Felix, to get the 1-0 in the 17th minute on his team's second chance from the spot.SOUND BITES: DIEGO SIMEONE, ATLETICO MADRID COACH POST MATCH WITH LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW AT THE MADRID'S WANDA METROPOLITANO. (IN SPANISH).Translations:(00:00:01.14 - 00:00:48.06) "The team played an important match. They started strong and encountered the difficulty of the failed penalty, where the pressure generated some doubt in the environment, but there never was any, because the team continued to insist. The most important thing today was the people. Since we entered the game, our reality was never shown in the League. It has shown good energy. there was positive energy and optimism from all sides".(00:00:48.06 - 00:01:14.20) "Joao Felix continues to grow. He has a lot of things to give to the team, we need him to combine better with the strikers so he can find that last pass so that we can find closure to the games before".(00:01:14.20 - 00:01:43.20) "The club, the team, the people, we as coaching staff ... We all needed to be in this round-of-16 and work accordingly to achieve it. I understand that it is a moment in which we have pressure. But the best thing that happened was after the failed penalty, there wasn't a drop of negativity in the stadium". (00:01:43.21 - 00:02:04,03) "We always try to compete. We will go game by game. We have got a long way to go until February and we will face any of the five possible teams, which are very good, and it will be an exciting match as the Champions League has accustomed us to".(00:02:04,08 - 00:02:31,15) "It is clear that when you win everything you look at everything with better eyes and it motivates us towards anything that comes our way, I believe that the best thing we have is the amount of situations we have generated".