Atletico Madrid manager questions decision not to send Real Madrid player off in El Clasico

Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has called into question the decision not to sent off Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior, after he grabbed Frenkie de Jong by the neck in Thursday night’s El Clasico.

In the most recent fixture between Atletico and Barcelona, Stefan Savic and Ferran Torres both saw red for a similar incident. Although it was perhaps more aggressive in the Atletico-Barcelona game, and it was a scuffle between the two that carried on the floor, certainly Vinicius Junior did grab de Jong with two hands around his neck and bring him to the ground as well.

Speaking ahead of Atleti’s fixture with Sevilla on Saturday night, Simeone called into question why it wasn’t treated the same.

“You all saw it the same [as me]. Seeing the images, we are asking ourselves the same questions. It goes beyond anything else that I can tell you. It difficult to add much more to what you have seen. It depends, as always, on the interpretation of the referees, on how they understand things in the best way possible so that everything is equal.”

On the fixture itself, Simeone was asked why Atletico have looked so much better after the World Cup than before it, which Simeone put down to the usual ebb and flow of a season. When put to him that Atleti might not have much to motivate them for the rest of the season, Simeone responded that “we can still qualify for the Champions League again. It is always a source of excitement.”