Diego Simeone used his last pre-match press conference of the 2025/26 season to set a simple target for Atlético Madrid: win at Villarreal and finish third. Speaking before Sunday’s visit, he said the team had improved sharply in attack but still needed to tighten up at the back.
“To break down the season a bit, I believe we’ve improved a lot on the offensive end, as we’re a team that, despite the criticism, plays well, attacks well, we scored a lot of goals in the Champions League, we scored a lot of goals in La Liga, and the Copa del Rey is no different, but we need to improve defensively,” Simeone said. He added that the match mattered because Atlético had been below third place all season, if he was not mistaken, and that the aim was to finish as high as possible, which would mean third place.
The timing matters because Atlético arrive at the end of a season shaped by goals at one end and questions at the other. Simeone’s comments framed Sunday not as a routine final-day trip, but as a chance to close out the league campaign with their strongest finish yet. He also said the club had been through major squad turnover last season, with eight players leaving and eight new ones coming in, before Nico was signed at the last minute and went on to help the team.
Villarreal, in Simeone’s view, will not make the task comfortable. He said they want to finish on a high note and are facing their final home game, with Dani Parejo’s departure and the coach’s departure part of the backdrop. Even so, he said Villarreal have kept the classic style that has defined their league season, one that Atlético will have to handle in a match that could shape how the standings look at the top end.
There was also a broader note in Simeone’s final pre-match briefing. He said he had read Pep Guardiola’s recent explanation at a press conference and felt a strong connection to the story Guardiola was telling, even if the trophy haul was different. For Atlético, though, the immediate story is more direct: a season that has produced goals, left defensive gaps, and now reaches its last chance to settle the villarreal cf vs atlético madrid standings on their own terms.
