Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone said blockbuster signing Julian Alvarez must be given time to find his feet in the team after a 3-0 home win over Girona, as he is an “incredible player for the present and future” of the club.
Atletico, who finished fourth last season, looked strong with a mix of youngsters, new signings and settled players such as Antoine Griezmann, Marcos Llorente and Koke, whose goals earned them their first win of the season.
While Alvarez had a quiet performance in his first start for the club, Simeone expressed optimism over what the former Manchester City striker can deliver.
“Top players demand things to happen, people go to the stadium to watch them. We know what Julian brings and what he can give us,” Simeone said.
“We will try to exploit his best qualities, as a first striker or second striker, or on the flank… he is still missing connection but that will come with training and matches, he has only just arrived but we have to give him time.”
Meanwhile, the Argentine coach heaped praise on midfielder Llorente, who was named player of the match after scoring his second goal of the season and grabbing an assist playing at right-back.
Simeone added the Spaniard’s fine form will boost internal competition as regular right-back Argentina’s Nahuel Molina will have to step up to fill that position as well throughout the season.
“I am very happy to see that after one or two years looking for an important place for a player with (Llorente’s)characteristics, we have found a spot for him,” Simeone said of the 29-year-old.
“This calls for Molina to improve, to show the World Cup and Copa America winner he is.
“We need competition. Because Llorente will not always be able to play at the same pace and we have another great player like Molina who will do the same as Marcos in that position.”
Meanwhile, Girona manager Michel said they must forget all about last season’s third-place finish in La Liga and that the players are starting from scratch in the current campaign after Sunday’s 3-0 defeat by Atletico Madrid left them in the bottom three.
After securing their best-ever league finish and a place in the Champions League for the first time Girona have been off the pace in the new campaign, drawing at Real Betis in their opener before losing heavily at Atletico.
“That is one of the challenges I have as a coach, to get the best version of each player by putting the counter to zero, no one can think that our goal is to finish third again,” Michel told a news conference.
“We’re always going to be compared but it’s clear to us that we’re a team that has to work with humility, we have to keep growing, we have pride and we want to be better than last year, we’ll try but we’ll always keep our feet on the ground.”
Despite the score, the Spaniard took some positives from their performance against “a great team”.
“I don’t look too much at the result, but we have to be quicker in the game and we have to be more aggressive with and without the ball,” he added. “In defence and in pressing situations we did well.”
Girona will look for their first La Liga win of the season on Thursday when they host Osasuna.