{"id":73050,"date":"2026-08-20T08:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T08:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/73050\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T08:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T08:03:10","slug":"diego-simeones-response-after-atletico-fans-target-julian-alvarez-over-barcelona-links-very-respectful-towards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/73050\/","title":{"rendered":"Diego Simeone&#8217;s response after Atletico fans target Julian Alvarez over Barcelona links: &#8216;Very respectful towards&#8230;&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barcelona\u2019s interest in Julian Alvarez continues to create headlines, with Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone forced to address the situation after his side opened their 2026\/27 La Liga campaign with a 2-0 win over Malaga.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Argentine forward did not feature in the match as he continues working towards full match fitness.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, even in his absence from the pitch, Alvarez remained one of the main talking points around the Metropolitano.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barcelona\u2019s interest in the Atletico star has added further tension to the situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the Catalan club are understood to be exploring different options to strengthen their attack, <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/barcelona-not-ruling-out-delaying-striker-signing-until-january-window-as-alvarez-move-stalls\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Alvarez remains one of the names linked<\/a> with a potential move.<\/p>\n<p>Simeone responds after Alvarez is targeted by Atletico fans<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the match, a section of Atletico supporters displayed a banner aimed at the striker and his possible links to Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"763\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tottenham-hotspur-fc-v-atletico-de-madrid-uefa-champions-league-2025-26-round-of-16-second-leg-1024x.webp\" alt=\"Julian Alvarez of Atletico Madrid\" class=\"wp-image-208125\"  \/>Julian Alvarez did not play against Malaga. (Photo by Julian Finney\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cJuli\u00e1n, thank you for the respect you\u2019re showing us, you idiot; Bar\u00e7a and your entourage have tricked you like a spoilt child.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The reaction put Simeone in an awkward position after what was otherwise a positive night for Atletico Madrid.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Simeone faced questions about the chants and banner directed at Alvarez following the final whistle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Atletico manager was asked for his view after isolated sections of the support appeared to turn their frustration towards the Argentine forward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c[I am] very respectful towards our people,\u201d he said, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marca.com\/futbol\/atletico\/2026\/08\/19\/simeone-seria-injusto-alex-kang-in-dos-golazos.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">MARCA<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/argentina-training-session-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Julian Alvarez of Argentina\" class=\"wp-image-203633\"  \/>Atletico Madrid fans are not sparring Julian Alvarez. (Photo by Rodrigo Valle\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Simeone\u2019s response did not go into detail about the Barcelona links or Alvarez\u2019s future. Instead, the Atletico coach chose to stress his respect for the club\u2019s supporters.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona continue to assess their attacking options<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barcelona remain in the market for attacking reinforcements following the departures of Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both sporting director Deco and manager <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/hansi-flick-opens-up-on-barcelonas-striker-hunt-praises-hamza-abdelkarim-were-looking-for-that-player\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Hansi Flick have acknowledged that the club<\/a> is still assessing the market, particularly when it comes to finding the right option to lead the line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alvarez has naturally been linked because of his profile, but Barcelona may have now realised that this particular transfer could be out of reach <a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/atletico-madrid-presidents-clear-message-to-barcelona-over-julian-alvarez-from-the-very-first-moment\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">given Atletico Madrid\u2019s position<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For now, the Catalan side is keeping other alternatives under consideration, but even that is proving difficult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barcelona\u2019s interest in Julian Alvarez continues to create headlines, with Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone forced to address&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[179,92,222,1455,223,674],"class_list":["post-73050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-atletico-madrid","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-diego-simeone","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-julian-alvarez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}