Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 7y

Diego Simeone toasts Atleti's historic 2016 after Las Palmas win

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone hailed an "extraordinary year" for his side after Saturday's 1-0 La Liga win at home to Las Palmas, while admitting that his team had work to do now to return to their usual consistent selves.

A whirlwind start saw Atletico midfielder Saul Niguez hit a post and Antoine Griezmann twice come close, but bit by bit the Canary Islanders worked their way into the game and at times dominated possession in front of a restless Estadio Vicente Calderon crowd.

Just before the hour mark, Saul broke the deadlock with a superb curling low 25-yard strike, and Atletico saw out the victory for three points which were not enough to push them back into the top four ahead of the winter break as Villarreal had won 3-1 at Sporting Gijon earlier on Saturday.

The Los Colchoneros coach was in reflective mood at his postmatch news conference where he recalled reaching last May's 2015-16 Champions League final and other high points during the calendar year.

"We are finishing an extraordinary year," Simeone said. "On New Year's Eve I will toast the year we had. Taking into account where we were coming from, the team had an extraordinary Champions League, this season in the Champions League we topped our group, we have begun well in the Copa del Rey.

"It's true that in La Liga this year we are inconsistent, but this season will go down in the club's history. The fans will be happy with this year."

Simeone made four changes from his team's 3-0 defeat at Villarreal last time out, some due to injuries. The Argentine praised the work of those who came in, while admitting the team need more consistency in La Liga.

"[Goalkeeper] Miguel Moya did very well, as we expected from him," Simeone said. "Saul did brilliant work in the centre, as did Sime [Vrsaljko at right-back]. Maybe this break now will be useful for us to rest, get busy and find better solutions so the team can respond better.

"With this work we hope to get back our consistency in La Liga in the new year."

Over the 90 minutes at the Calderon Quique Setien's attractive Las Palmas side had almost 70 percent possession -- but Simeone said that what counted in football were chances created and his team had deserved their win on that account.

"I saw my team play a very complete game," he said. "We had many chances in the first half. They had good possession, they move the ball sideways very well. But the important thing is not possession, it is chances.

"They played the game we expected. I think we responded well. We have fast players, dangerous in space. It was a pity we could not take more of our chances. But the 1-0 result was fair."

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