Atletico title hopes hit by limp defeat at Bilbao

BILBAO, Spain (Reuters): Atletico Madrid’s faint La Liga title hopes suffered a setback with a 2-0 defeat at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday which could leave them 10 points behind leaders Barcelona by the end of the weekend.

Atletico had failed to muster a shot on target in Tuesday’s 3-0 defeat by Juventus which sent them out 3-2 on aggregate, but the return of Diego Costa led to coach Diego Simeone fielding an exciting attacking trident of Costa, Antoine Griezmann and Alvaro Morata.

Simeone thought his side were still feeling the effects of their collapse against Juventus.

“After the bad performance we gave in Turin, we struggled to get going and we couldn’t create chances,” Simeone said.

“The second half was different, we showed we wanted to win but they were clinical with the chances they created.”

The Argentine would not be drawn on whether the title race was over.

“We are used to fighting on and competing but this is a moment for us to sit back, observe and try to grow,” he said.“We are in a privileged position in the league after seven good months and we hope to stay that way. We’re used to fighting for trophies until the end, now we are slipping away from Barcelona, but it was not easy after what happened in Turin.”