The Japan Times - Champions League or bust for Atletico after Copa del Rey agony

The Argentine coach left Seville crumpled, wounded, by his team's Copa del Rey final defeat on Saturday by Real Sociedad, decided by the cruelty of penalties.

Simeone led Atletico to the Spanish cup back in 2013, an eternity ago, and winning it again would have been the perfect springboard to send the club flying into the Champions League semi-finals clash with Arsenal.

Atletico have never won that trophy and they had real belief they could do it this year, belief which was badly dented this weekend.

The last time they won silverware of any kind was La Liga in 2021, with Luis Suarez leading the charge in attack.

Winning the Copa would have ensured French star Antoine Griezmann could depart with a trophy under his arm, and end the club's drought.

During the Simeone era, the club have started to escape the nickname they had -- El Pupas, the jinxed one -- given to them after they lost the 1974 European Cup final against Bayern.

Simeone said his team could pick themselves back up from the defeat, 4-3 in the shoot-out after the gripping 2-2 draw, with Alexander Sorloth and Julian Alvarez missing from the spot for the Rojiblancos.

"The way we competed makes me calm," said the coach, but it will take effort to get his players in the right place mentally to take on Arsenal, with the first leg in the Spanish capital on April 29.

"I'm not thinking about Arsenal, what happens today hurts me a lot. We needed to win and we couldn't win," said Simeone.

"The fans don't need messages (from me), what they need is to win."

Over 30,000 Atletico fans travelled down to Seville and left downhearted.

Simeone had pledged the team were "ready" to win the Champions League after they eliminated Barcelona earlier in the week but they failed the litmus test against La Real.

"We still have the Champions League, we have a beautiful tie ahead of us," said Atletico midfielder Marcos Llorente, trying to raise spirits.

"We have to thank everyone, above all those who came to Seville, we're really hurting for them. We have to lift our heads up."

- 'Now the good part' -

Llorente said the team could not wallow in defeat.

"When you lose, you have another competition coming quickly," he continued.

"There's no time to think about things. This is really tough for us, but we have to get up -- now comes the good part."

In the immediate aftermath of the shoot-out, decided by two saves by Real Sociedad stopper Unai Marrero and Pablo Marin's winning spot kick, Koke wiped away tears before issuing a similar message.

The veteran midfielder is one of the wisest heads at Atletico and he told his team-mates to focus on what lies ahead.

"We tried everything, we left our souls out there and it wasn't to be," said the 34-year-old.

"That's life... it hurts, and we have to continue."

Atletico are a club that have bounced back from many blows to keep on moving forwards, including defeats by rivals Real Madrid in the 2014 and 2016 Champions League finals.

The Copa final loss stings but pales in contrast to those bitter blows.

At least with Real Madrid eliminated, if Atletico can recover to find a way past Arsenal, that cannot happen a third time.

H.Nakamura--JT