Jan Oblak urged Atletico Madrid to remain positive after their recent wobble extended to a 1-0 defeat against Chelsea in the Champions League.
Oblak was beaten by OIivier Giroud's magnificent overhead kick in the 68th minute, while his opposite number Edouard Mendy did not have a shot to save over the course of the 90 minutes in Bucharest – Atleti's scheduled home leg having been rearranged to the Romanian capital due to coronavirus restrictions.
Atletico's famously robust defence is now without a clean sheet in eight outings, while their lead at the top of LaLiga is down to two points from Real Madrid after one win in four.
"It's football. Sometimes you have to win, other times lose," Oblak told reporters.
"We have another game left, we have to raise our heads, also in LaLiga and we have to prepare, be strong and improve game by game.
"We can't think of anything other than going back [to winning]. Lately, things are going a bit against us."
Atletico return to LaLiga action with a tricky trip to Villarreal this weekend, while the subsequent derby against Real Madrid looks likely to be a pivotal moment in their season.
"It is a bad moment and on Sunday this is going to change," Oblak said.
"You have to think positively, the season is long with difficult moments and it is time to show that we are a strong group that is united.
"Only then will we get out of it."
Despite selecting a starting line-up featuring Joao Felix and Angel Correa in support of Luis Suarez and with Marcos Llorente and Thomas Lemar as wing-backs, Atleti boss Diego Simeone came in for criticism after the game for a perceived negative approach.
"The plan is always to defend well, no matter what the game plan is," Oblak added. "We didn’t play badly, we played fine.
"When I got back to the changing room, I saw everyone with their heads high, all convinced we're going to win.
"We can come back and we're still first in LaLiga."
Jude Bellingham named Bundesliga player of the season
Jude Bellingham has been named the Bundesliga’s player of the season.
The England midfielder won the award just two days after his club Borussia Dortmund missed out on the Bundesliga title to Bayern Munich on goal difference.
Bellingham has made more than 130 appearances since joining Dortmund from Birmingham for just over £20million three years ago.
“Every year or half year that I’ve played at the club, my responsibility in the team has increased,” Bellingham was quoted as saying on the official Bundesliga website.
“I have to continue to be everywhere on the pitch and try my best to contribute going forwards and backwards and try and control games, try to dominate the midfield.
“My teammates, the coaches and the staff have helped me to develop.
“I came to the club as a talented lad, but I have added elements to my game that have taken it to the next level and I think that’s down to them, mainly.”
Bellingham, who turns 20 next month, captained Dortmund this season to become the club’s youngest-ever skipper and scored 14 goals in all competitions.
He has been strongly linked to a move away from Germany this summer, with Real Madrid reportedly leading the race for his signature.
I am full of energy – Jurgen Klopp says he does not need break from management
Jurgen Klopp insists he does not need a break from Premier League management following a disappointing campaign with Liverpool.
The Reds missed out on Champions League qualification after finishing outside the top four for the first time in a full season under the German.
Sunday’s thrilling 4-4 draw at relegated Southampton stretched Liverpool’s unbeaten top-flight run to 11 games but the late resurgence was not enough to make up for earlier poor results.
Klopp, the division’s longest-serving manager, maintains he is “full of energy” and ready to revive the club’s fortunes going into the summer.
Asked if he needs time off, the Reds boss replied: “No, no, no, not at all. Honestly, I’m completely fine.
“If you’d asked me 11 games ago, ‘do you want to have a break?’, I would have thought about it, to be honest.
“But I’m absolutely fine, full of energy.
“I have a break – I don’t have training and these kind of things. But a really busy period hopefully starts now in a different area of the game. I’m more than happy to do that.
“I will find time to reenergise and then we start again in July.”
Liverpool’s fifth-placed finish was their lowest since they finished eighth in 2015-16 – the season during which Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers at Anfield.
The Reds looked destined to sign off this term in style following early strikes from Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino at St Mary’s.
But quick-fire second-half finishes from substitute Cody Gakpo and Jota were required to avoid a major shock after Kamaldeen Sulemana’s double and goals from James Ward-Prowse and Adam Armstrong turned a chaotic contest in Southampton’s favour.
Klopp believes his club has stuck together during some difficult moments and is determined that they regain a fear factor for rival sides.
“There is not a lot to learn (from the season) but a lot of clubs when the expectations are as high as ours when things don’t go well pretty quickly you start blaming each other,” he said. “That didn’t happen here.
“The better you behave in a crisis, the better you get out of it – and I really thought that was the case for us.
“We’re really, really not happy about it and for a club like us it’s massive not to qualify for the Champions League.
“If we improve, we are all of a sudden again a team nobody wants to play against and that’s what we have to become again.
“There were a lot of games in the season where I think teams were happy to face us. That’s actually the worst thing that can happen to you and I hated these moments. But that’s over and now let’s start again.”
Southampton are preparing for life in the Sky Bet Championship following an exhilarating end to a dismal season.
Saints manager Ruben Selles, who will leave the club and is likely be replaced by Swansea boss Russell Martin, conducted a performance review ahead of his departure.
“We discussed the points we can do better, the points we need to hold,” said the Spaniard.
“We needed to end in a professional way and that’s not a discussion because it’s not about us as a technical staff, it’s about Southampton and the information we can pass to the future people working here is key in not repeating the same mistakes.
“If they find themselves in the same situations that we did, at least they have this footage and experience of what we did.
“We did our review as a technical staff together. We got some conclusions for us and somebody will present it in the proper place to present it.
“It’s not for us to decide for the future but it is for us to say what we think can be different next season.”
Everton’s great escape will not automatically solve problems – leading academic
Everton’s escape from relegation will not automatically free them from problems which caused that predicament and proposed new investment will have to inevitably bring changes at boardroom level, according to a leading academic.
While Premier League revenue has been secured for another season – extending their top-flight stay into a 70th season – a club which has cumulative losses of more than £430million in the last four years will have to make significant changes.
And while American investors MSP Sports Capital are poised to buy into the club, Kieran Maguire – from the University of Liverpool Management School’s Centre for Sports Business – believes that will not come without strings attached.
Fans who have been protesting against what they claim is mismanagement by the current board, including chairman Bill Kenwright and CEO Denise Barrett-Baxendale in particular, will welcome that prospect but what impact it has on owner Farhad Moshiri’s approach remains to be seen.
“Someone suggested £150million for 25 per cent, which would value the club around £600m. Newcastle went for £300m,” Maguire, speaking about the new investment, told the PA news agency.
“If a new person was coming in, they’d be looking for board representation, more concessions from Moshiri and then where does it leave him: owning three-quarters of a football club and he’d walk away with a big loss.
“MSP are looking to bring two directors onto the board and for there to be changes on the existing board.”
However, a new, albeit partial, boardroom will not sweep away all Everton’s issues.
There are deep-rooted problems at the club which the £600m Moshiri has spent on transfers alone have failed to solve.
That means it will take some turning around and – after back-to-back seasons of narrowly avoiding relegation – it could be a painful and complicated process with a squad overhaul likely to have to take place on a budget, potentially funded by existing player sales.
“It is not Football Manager where you think ‘It’s not going too well, I’ll delete and reset’,” added Maguire.
“You have costs in terms of the infrastructure, legacy costs in terms of player recruitment.
“There won’t be a lot of money to buy players but you still have the issue of wages at 90 per cent of turnover and this overhang of the Premier League charges.
“We don’t know how long that will take to conclude – and the worst-case scenario is a points deduction.
“Football is a talent game and the talent follows the money. It could be you do a Brentford or a Brighton and you succeed at a point in the market but there is no evidence to suggest Everton are capable of doing that.
“How do you get around that? You pay them more money – and that extra money doesn’t exist.”
On the horizon is the new 53,000-capacity stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock but that, too, will be no panacea for finances.
“It will start to kick in for 2024, but it is not going to move the dial a huge amount,” said Maguire.
“And Everton have a fanbase who are traditional supporters from Liverpool so monetising the corporate element may be more difficult.”
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