Diego Simeone singles one Barcelona star out for special praise before La Liga showdown | OneFootball

Atlético Madrid head coach Diego Simeone has today moved to reveal his appreciation for a leading member of the attacking ranks at Barcelona.

The player in question? Raphinha.

Wide-man Raphinha, for his part, is of course in the midst of nothing short of a spectacular start to the new campaign.

All told, in 24 appearances across all competitions to date, the Brazilian international has directly contributed to 27 goals.

Barcelona, in turn, will be hopeful of such excellence on the part of their wing wizard continuing on Saturday night, when they close out the club’s pre-Christmas fixture list in a meeting with the aforementioned Atlético Madrid.

And one individual on the Atléti side of things who is under no illusions when it comes to Raphinha’s ability to wreak havoc comes in the form of Diego Simeone.

Speaking on the eve of tomorrow’s top-of-the-table La Liga clash, tactician Simeone revealed his take that:

“Barcelona play very well and Raphinha is one of the best players in La Liga.”

Conor Laird – GSFN