Atletico Madrid failed yesterday against Arsenal, losing 1-0 at the "Emirates" and unable to "seal" their ticket to the Budapest final.
At the press conference after the match, the coach of the "rojiblancos", Diego Simeone, refused to blame the refereeing for his team's elimination and even praised Mikel Arteta's side for their effort.
It should be noted that the referee of the match, Daniel Siebert, rejected the visitors' claims for a penalty by Riccardo Calafiori on Antoine Griezmann in the 56th minute and instead awarded Arsenal a free-kick for a foul by Marc Pubill on Gabriel seconds earlier.
"I'm not going to focus on something simple like the incident with Griezmann. It's obvious, it was a foul. The referee said there was a foul earlier by Marc (Pubill) on one of their players. I'm not going to focus on that, because it would be an excuse and I don't want to find excuses. So, if we were eliminated, it's because our opponents deserved to go through, they seized their big chance in the first half and capitalized on it."
Cholo also noted that he feels "serene" and "calm", as his team "gave everything" in both games, even if they ultimately failed to qualify.
"We reached a point no one imagined, competing with a team with incredible financial power. I'm proud to be where I am. In pre-season, when the team was presented, I said we would fight. And we fought. Unfortunately we haven't won anything, but we've reached points that are not easy to reach. We have to accept that and thank these players for what they did."
Atletico will end the season without winning a trophy, having also lost the Copa del Rey final to Real Sociedad and having fallen behind Barcelona, Real Madrid and Villarreal in LaLiga, but Simeone praised his team's run in Europe, which included the elimination of the "Blaugrana" in the quarter-finals.
"We have grown tremendously in every aspect, we are a club recognized in Europe and the world. But fans want to win. Reaching the semi-final is not enough," added the Argentine.
Finally, regarding his future at the team and whether he can continue for another year on the bench, Simeone stated: "If I have the strength to keep trying for another year? Not now, certainly not at this moment."