Diego Simeone accepts blame for late defeat to Villarreal

Diego Simeone has said that he 'lost the game himself' through his use of substitutions in Atletico Madrid's 2-1 reverse at the hands of Villarreal.

Los Rojiblancos were a goal to the good thanks to an Antoine Griezmann penalty, only for Enes Unal to net twice in the final eight minutes and turn the game on its head.

Atleti boss Simeone took off his goalscorer shortly before Unal's first goal and also brought on Vitolo for Angel Correa 10 minutes beforehand.

Speaking to reporters after the match at the Estadio de la Ceramica, the 47-year-old said: "I have the feeling that I lost the game myself. The players made a huge effort and I could not help them with my decisions. I may have been wrong.

"It was an intense match with similar characteristics in both teams, we made a good first half and we were handling it well in the second and they took advantage of those two actions. The details caused the match to fall on their side in such a close game."

Atletico remain second in the La Liga standings, but Real Madrid have closed the gap to just four points with their high-scoring win over Girona.