The 2013 Liga BBVA season is in the books. Now, Atletico Madrid return to the pitch with hopes of embarking on another league-title run in 2014. The club is continuing its summer tour this afternoon and will face Spanish outfit Cadiz. The battle for the Ramon de Carranza trophy scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET will be held at the Estadio Ramon de Carranza in Cadiz and can be live streamed here free. Additional TV coverage can be found on beIN Sports.
Atletico Madrid relived the tradition of seeing their leading striker depart following a successful campaign, with Diego Costa being the latest No. 9 to abstract himself from the Vicente Calderon. Costa joins a laundry list of withdrawn strikers such as Radamel Falcao, Fernando Torres and Sergio Aguero. That, however, hasn't perturbed manager Diego Simeone. Thanks to successful summer signings, the native Argentine believes he has enough attacking prowess to not only replace Costa, but defend his league title as well.
"I think that with the arrival of Raúl Jiménez, we have the characteristics that the team needed", Simeone said (via Inside Spanish Football). "I evaluate him as a young player, a player in the area that we needed. He has pace. I think that having [Antoine] Griezmann, Raúl García, [Mario] Mandzukic and Jiménez, we have significant offensive power."
"I think that normally—as a coach of a team that isn't an economical powerhouse—you have to adapt to the situations that you have," he added. "Inside the construction of the team that the sporting management is doing, we give ideas of what we wouldn't like. As a coach, I say 'these are the type of characteristics I like,' and the club searches within its economical possibilities to fulfill the needs of the coach."
"I am happy and convinced that the club is working to give us the best possibilities, and I hope it will be so."
The next opportunity to for the players to give their best comes this afternoon in Cadiz.
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