Diego Simeone hopes that the success that his Atletico Madrid players had on international service will bring the fortunes of the club new life after enduring a difficult month.
Before the international break, Atletico Back-to-Back Leaga League suffered against Getafe and Barcelona and were also eliminated from the Champions League last 16 after a controversial penalty shoot-out.
It leaves Simeone's side in third place, seven points behind Barcelona, who organized a stunning comeback to beat them 4-2 in the last 20 minutes on March 16.
Some important Atletico players have since tasted success for their national teams in qualifications of the World Cup.
Diego's son, Giuliano Simeone, scored for Argentina in a massive 4-1 victory over Brazil, with the place of the Albiceleste at the 2026 tournament, while Alexander Sorloth scored twice in victories for Norway.
“All international boys, going to the national team is a positive energy,” Simeone told reporters on Friday prior to the weekend's visit to Espanyol.
“They did well, and after the game against Barcelona … winning always makes you happier.”
Simeone, who led Atletico to two Laliga titles, said that the title race was not nearly over, with 10 more rounds to play.
Atletico now only gets a 1.7%chance of winning the competition through the OPTA Supercomputer, whereby Barcelona will win most of them at 77.5%, while Madrid's chances are 20.7%.
“I think the last five games are those who determine the seasons, and those who arrive with options are those who will compete for the goal,” he said.
None of their last three Laliga Away matches has lost no -end matches against Espanyol (W1 D2) and have never gone four or more matches without beating them in the competition this century.
In fact, Atletico is currently in an unbeaten of seven games in their last seven games against Espanyol in the Spanish top flight (W3 D4), although they have each drawn of the last three.
With that in mind, Simeone was quickly careful against the light of the 15th placed Espanyol on Saturday.
“Laliga is complicated everywhere, everyone plays well, there is no one who plays badly, everyone has their moments … We always look at the present and the present is Espanyol,” said Simeone.
“We made a great effort against Barcelona, and then the power of the opponent can overcome us … but we are back.”
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