{"id":2326,"date":"2026-11-07T21:07:49","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T13:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/?p=2326"},"modified":"2026-11-07T21:07:51","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T13:07:51","slug":"atletico-had-our-number-last-season-they-hurt-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/07\/atletico-had-our-number-last-season-they-hurt-us\/","title":{"rendered":"“Atletico had our number last season, they hurt us”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Fermin Lopez admitted ahead of Atletico v Barcelona that Simeone’s side countered them effectively and managed to “work them out”. The midfielder now expects a different contest after taking lessons on board from ‘El Clasico’, where he said they lacked sharpness, and from PSG.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Huelva-born midfielder reflected on current affairs at Camp Nou in an interview with ‘Mundo Deportivo’, insisting he harbours no thirst for revenge against Atletico de Madrid: “We don’t have any particular burning desire for revenge. Ultimately, it’s just another game, but we know it’s vital, that last season they hurt us; they knocked us out twice. We know they’re a top team who will make life very difficult for us. We must control every detail, impose our style of football, and hopefully win there because securing top spot would be a massive statement.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Every team plays to their strengths, and last year they had our number a bit and hurt us quite heavily,” acknowledged Fermin, who feels a refreshed FC Barcelona are in far better shape: “I believe we’re in good shape this year, especially in our last match against Aston Villa where the defence was superb. These are areas you continuously refine, but maybe an off-day comes and they hurt us as well. Yet we try to control everything possible, from the forwards pressing from the front to the defenders behind. We try to execute everything the manager demands to neutralise their strengths and play our own game.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 23-year-old attacking midfielder also recalled leaving his last outing at the Metropolitano with a split lip: “Yes, along with the Inter clash, that one stands out\u2014both for the pain of the blow, where they had to stitch me up and it hurt terribly, and above all because they eliminated us. That was what stung most, along with knowing that if that shot had gone in\u2014his strike against Musso that caused the injury\u2014perhaps it would have unfolded into an entirely different match. Your mind races through possibilities. It wasn’t a pleasant moment, but you learn from everything.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fermin Lopez brought up his 150th official appearance for Barcelona during Champions League action. “I could never have imagined reaching 150 games for Barca’s first team, and hopefully many more will follow. My career will ultimately dictate how many I tally, but I hope to enjoy many more appearances here. I’m delighted and extremely proud,” he declared, before lavishing praise on Hansi Flick and his tactical evolution under the German coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think under Hansi I’ve improved considerably in terms of game maturity. In the past, I perhaps played flat-out with too much urgency, rushing decisions, but under him\u2014and with the passing years and game time\u2014you absorb that discipline. I feel Flick has helped me acquire that maturity to read the moments, the matches, the passages of play, knowing when to push and when to hold back. He has instilled substantial maturity across every facet of my game,” he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also highlighted his knack for finding the back of the net, having already scored 38 times for the senior squad: “It’s an innate quality I’ve always possessed. Ever since I was a boy, I think I’ve had a strong relationship with goals, the penalty box, and providing assists. It’s always defined my play, and over the past two years I feel I’ve elevated it significantly to assist the team even further.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fermin Lopez admitted ahead of Atletico v Barcelona that Simeone’s side countered them effectively and managed to “work<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2327,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2326"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2328,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2326\/revisions\/2328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}