Atletico Madrid: Diego Simeone forced Daniel Wass to play on v Barcelona with serious injury
Atletico Madrid‘s 2021/22 season is starting to unravel in a very, very bad way.
The Spanish champions now sit fifth in the La Liga table after a 4-2 defeat away at Barcelona last Sunday afternoon, with goals from Jordi Alba, Gavi, Ronald Araujo and Daniel Alves securing victory for Xavi Hernandez’s team.
Diego Simeone’s men were second-best for much of that game, with Jan Oblak’s poor form in goal continuing.
Atletico’s team looks a pale shadow of the one that claimed the league title last season, with new signings made back in the summer failing to have much of an impact.
The capital club did reinforce the squad in January as well to try and solve some problems, although one of the recruits, Daniel Wass, is now expected to be out for around two months after picking up a knee injury on debut against Barcelona.
And Simeone’s reaction to the Danish midfielder receiving treatment for the painful knock on the touchline was the polar opposite of sympathetic.
Footage of the Atletico manager forcing Wass to play on while in obvious agony has popped up on social media and to say it’s damning would be something of an understatement.
Check it out here…
Video: Simeone forces Wass to play on v Barcelona with serious knee injury
el Atlético confirmó la lesión de Wass y vi este tiktok que me gustaría compartirles pic.twitter.com/V5EBCBNJEf
— mer ⚽️ (@merliverpool) February 7, 2022
👀🚑 • El Cholo Simeone forzó a Daniel Wass para que siguiera jugando y finalizó el partido pero pasó lo que pasó. No tiene buena pinta lo del danés que debutaba hoy en el Camp Nou.
— PasiónColchonera2022 (@PasionAtm2022) February 6, 2022
🎥 Pasión Colchonera TV x @vamos pic.twitter.com/Wm0AyJjVR5
Simeone didn’t care one iota about Wass’ welfare and forced him to return to the field of play for the final few minutes.
The former Celta Vigo man hobbled back onto the hallowed turf at Camp Nou and could barely walk when out there. He eventually collapsed to the ground in visible distress before being treated by medical staff.
Simeone’s ‘win at all costs’ attitude has helped turn Atletico into a European super-club in recent years, but it’s almost impossible not to think that the Argentine’s treatment of Wass was bang out of order.
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The fiery manager will now have to deal with the consequences of his actions, as Wass – who was brought in to soften the blow of Kieran Trippier’s move to Newcastle – will now likely miss the majority of the business end of the season.
Sometimes, it really is best not to let passion completely dictate your actions…