"I'm ashamed, I don't know how to explain it to my children"

Atletico Madrid's Jose Maria Gimenez spoke to the club's official website and lamented Espanyol's agonising draw at the RCDE Stadium, to such an extent that the Uruguayan revealed he felt "ashamed".

"I'm ashamed of what happened, I don't know how to explain to my children that we were winning 0-3 and they equalised the game. I don't know what has happened to us," said the centre-back, completely outraged by the result.

In the same vein, he added: "Leading 0-3 and getting a draw is tough, for us it's like a real defeat. We totally switched off and they started to build up with their fans' support, with their situation, and we didn't know how to have enough hierarchy to control the lead we had".

"It hurts, but it's all a learning experience for what's to come. It's a strange season for us because of how it started and how it's ending. There are two games left and we have to try to get as many points as we can," Gimenez added.

And finally, he tried to find explanations: "There are games that you see as controlled, won, so to speak.... Lack of attention, but also merits of the rival make us draw some matches that didn't happen before".

"Before, we were very defensive with a 1-0 lead, which bothered so many people, and when we scored a goal it was very difficult for them to equalise. It hurts because we were always a defensively strong team and that's what made us compete at the top.