Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone has praised Chelsea ahead of Friday's European Super Cup and described the match as 'beautiful.'
The winners of last season's Champions League and Europa League trophies face off at the Stade Louis II in Monaco this Friday night, with Atletico seeking to repeat their success of two years ago when they beat then Champions League holders Inter 2-0 at the same venue.
“The Super Cup is huge, its beautiful,” stated Simeone to AS. “Hopefully we can enjoy it.”
“A very competitive team with a serious Coach who has given them a solid structure,” was the Argentine's take on Chelsea, who are top of the Premier League having won all three of their fixtures thus far.
“Defensively they are strong. They have enormous potential and have grown with the arrival of good players,” he added, referring to the Blues captures of Eden Hazard, Oscar and Cesar Azpilicueta amongst others.
“We have a more competitive roster numerically,” was the former Catania tactician's verdict on his own squad. “But we lost a great player in Diego, who had great vision and ended the season well.”
First of all however, Simeone's side have a La Liga fixture to attend to tonight. Ironically the opponents are Athletic Bilbao, the team Los Colchoneros defeated 3-0 110 days ago to lift the Europa League trophy and book their place in Friday's showcase.
Simeone reflected fondly on that night in Bucharest.
“It was enormous. We knew we had a great rival in front of us, but we did everything in the best way possible.”
