Simeone plays down Atletico run

The capital club continued their hot streak in the Europa League as a much-changed XI beat Portuguese side Academica 2-1 at the Vicente Calderon.

The victory was also Atlti's 16th in a row in European competitions, but Simeone was unfussed by such talk afterwards.

"Statistics are for the history books and journalists," he said, before immediately turning his attention to the weekend game with lowly Osasuna.

"We live for tomorrow and tomorrow is Osasuna."

Simeone left out a number of his star names including sought-after striker Radamel Falcao, but his fringe players proved their worth.

"Besides the victory the best thing about the game was the performances of Silvio (Pereira), Cata (Diaz), (Sergio) Asenjo, Emre (Belozoglu), Tiago (Mendes) and (Jorge) Pulido," he said.

"We look to be competitive. The word rotation is more for the press. Adrian (Lopez), Gabi and Koke all played. I try to find the most competitive team."