Simeone Trusts Atletico Madrid Will Secure Champions League Spot

Atletico lost 1-0 at home to bottom side Levante in their last La Liga outing in midweek, which saw them fail to usurp Barcelona for fourth position.

The Rojiblancos have also fallen fifteen points behind leaders Real Madrid and it is looking inevitable that they will cede their La Liga crown at the end of the campaign.

In their next outing on Saturday against Osasuna, whom Atletico have won eleven times and lost once against in 12 games under Simeone, the Argentine expects his side to get back on track.

"It's normal after the painful defeat, but with a desire to have a new opportunity and to focus on the game against Osasuna, who play really well and are going through a good moment," Simeone told reporters at Friday's pre-match news conference when asked about the squad's morale.

"I have the motivation to live on every day. I'm at a great club, where I want to be, and I look at the future trying to solve the present.

"There isn't one circumstance [behind our problems], but several, and I believe blindly in the players that I have. I'm sure they'll pull this off.

"We're now facing a 14-game league in which there will be seven teams who will have the chance to get into the Champions League, and being all together, looking for ways out of difficult moments like we had in the pandemic, when we had one point more than we do today, [and] we were sixth and finished third.

"We'll have to make a great effort for this, but we're focusing on the present."