Simeone points to substitutes after smash-and-grab win at Barcelona

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone credited his substitutes with changing the game in Saturday’s 2-1 comeback win over Barcelona.

Alexander Sorloth climbed off the bench to net a last-gasp winner at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, sending Atleti top of LaLiga in the process.

Atleti have now reeled off 12 straight wins in all competitions, and are guaranteed to go into Christmas at the top of the tree in Spain.

Simeone took off his son Giuliano and Conor Gallagher for Nahuel Molina and Koke respectively shortly after Rodrigo De Paul had restored parity, before then bringing on Sorloth for Antoine Griezmann and Axel Witsel for Marcos Llorente.

And two of those changes combined for the winner when Molina crossed in for Sorloth to cap a blistering counter-attack in the 96th minute.

“That’s what a team is, when one player comes off and another player comes on and gives a response,” Simeone said.

“We took Griezmann off early, which is difficult for me, but I knew that Sorloth had something that could make us come out from the back to hold the ball.

“I think the substitutions gave us strength. Some attacking situations that you can find on the counter-attack, an exquisite play, a great goal by Sorloth that gave us the chance to win a very difficult game.”

Atleti failed to register a single shot in the first half, and they finished with an expected goals total of just 0.6, compared to Barca’s 2.7.

“I’m very happy with the team’s effort,” Simeone added.

“We were humble enough to suffer and to defend against a team that plays very well. In the first half and I think until our goal they were far superior to us.

“Then I think we started to find our feet a bit in the game, and we saw that we could compete in the game. The team managed to hold on.”

Atleti also had goalkeeper Jan Oblak to thank as he pulled off a string of excellent saves to help them end an 18-year wait for an away victory over Barca in LaLiga.

“We have a great goalkeeper who played a defining role in the match,” Simeone said of Oblak.