Atletico Madrid suffered a major setback in the league title race after a 2-0 defeat against Celta de Vigo.

This was a shock result for the team especially considering that they had beaten table leaders Real Madrid 4-0 only in the previous match. Atletico Madrid expected to build on from this result, which placed them just four points away from the top of the table. As it is, the title looks to be away from them after Barcelona and Real Madrid kept on winning. After the match, manager Diego Simeone says that he was the only person responsible for this defeat.

In their defence, Atletico were without a number of key players like Raul Garcia, Koke, and Turan for this encounter. Garcia and Turan were suspended after receiving five yellow cards so far this campaign, while Koke was absent because of a hamstring injury. The latter has been so much responsible towards creating opportunities in the team and his absence was truly felt against Celta de Vigo, who are struggling with a threat of relegation. This result may shift Atletico to focus on the Champions League and finishing in the top three. Simeone, though, is not the kind of manager to admit defeat in public.

“In the first half, I chose a bad formation. I lost 45 minutes. I chose badly. It’s not Fernando’s fault that he had to go off but we weren’t able to balance the team. We started the second half better. Then there was the episode of the penalty and the second goal. Celta played very well.We carry on competing and now we think of next Saturday,” said Simeone, who opted for a very attacking formation featuring the likes of Mario Mandzukic, Fernando Torres, and Griezmann. Torres has now failed to score in every league game so far.