90min

Diego Simeone Explains Crotch-Grab Celebration During Atletico Madrid Win Over Juventus

facebooktwitterreddit

Atletico Madrid secured a memorable 2-0 win over Juventus at the Wanda Metropolitano in the Champions League on Wednesday night, and while VAR attempted to take centre stage, the most eye-catching moment of the night arguably came from the hosts' manager Diego Simeone. 

After Jose Maria Gimenez opened the scoring for ​Los Rojiblancos​ - just moments after Atletico thought they had secured the lead through Alvaro Morata, only for VAR to rule it out - Simeone turned towards the fans and firmly grabbed his crotch.

The act quickly went viral on social media, and the Argentine manager explained after the game that he felt it was something he 'needed to do'.

Speaking to Sky Sports Italia (via ​Goal) Simeone explained his 'celebration', by revealing: "It means we have balls, a lot of balls.

"To start [Diego] Costa and Koke after they hadn't played for a month takes balls.

"I did it as a player in Lazio-Bologna and I did it again to show our fans that we have cojones," he added. "It wasn't aimed at the other team, I was turning towards our own supporters.

Simeone did offer somewhat of an apology for the gesture at least to those who were offended by it.

He added: "It's not a nice gesture, I'll admit, but I felt the need to do it. It was such a tough game, we fought so hard and Diego Costa worked really hard when he wasn't 100 per cent fit. I had to show what I was feeling.

"I can only apologise if anyone was offended, but I did it from the heart."

While some fans might have assumed that Simeone's enthusiastic celebration came in response to the frustration of VAR denying his side an opener, the Argentinian manager said he still backed the use of the technology in the sport.

“We still believe the VAR can make football more just for everyone," he said.

Atletico Madrid will face ​Juventus in the return leg on 12 March in Turin, confident in their 2-0 lead and the knowledge that I Bianconeri have failed to progress each of the five times they've lost the first leg of a Champions League tie.