Vitor Hugo and Cuello: Hard work key after Santos draw

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·15 September 2025

Vitor Hugo and Cuello: Hard work key after Santos draw

The 1-1 draw with Santos last Sunday (14), at Arena MRV, left Atlético in a state of frustration. After the match, few players stopped in the mixed zone to talk to journalists: among them were defender Vitor Hugo and forward Cuello. Both emphasized their disappointment with the result at home, but assured that the way forward is to keep working to get the team back on track this season.

Vitor Hugo was straightforward in acknowledging the fans' feelings and the need to react:

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We understand the fans’ frustration. We were recently eliminated and now we wanted to give them the win, especially since they were here supporting us. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the victory today, which would have been very important for our momentum. But we can’t hang our heads. All we can do is work, talk less, and work! God willing, we’ll put Galo where it deserves to be, at the top of the table.

The defender also analyzed the performance against Santos, highlighting the difference between the halves: “Our first half wasn’t good, we couldn’t connect our passes. When we tried to move the ball forward, all our players were marked and we struggled to play out from the back. But at halftime, the coach showed us what we needed to do and we came back much better for the second half. In the second half, we deserved to win, but unfortunately we conceded that penalty goal at the very end. Now we have to keep quiet and work!”

Finally, the player made a point of valuing the unity of the group when asked if the goal conceded was due to a mistake by Lyanco: “When we win, everyone wins. When we lose, everyone loses. The only way we’ll get out of this situation is as a group.”

Cuello, in turn, spoke about the team’s performance and reinforced the need to improve confidence and continue seeking collective improvement:

We knew we needed to protect the lead we had on the scoreboard. We need to win, we know that. Now we have to focus on Wednesday’s game, which is an important and very tough match. We’ll do everything we can to get a positive result. But unfortunately, it didn’t happen today.

Despite the frustration with the result, Cuello tried to highlight signs of the team’s progress, but again called for victories: “I’m happy that we’re improving, but there’s still a lot to work on and we’ll keep at it. (…) (What’s missing is) confidence, we need wins, we have to win. We leave angry and sad about the result, especially at home. Now it’s time to work, keep our heads straight, and that’s the only way we’ll get out of this.” he concluded.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.