Vitor Hugo and Cuello: Hard work key after Santos draw

In partnership with

Deus me Dibre

·15 septembre 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 game, few players stopped in the mixed zone to talk to journalists: among them were defender Vitor Hugo and forward Cuello. Both emphasized the disappointment with the home result but assured that the way forward is to keep working to recover the team in the season.

Vitor Hugo was straightforward in acknowledging the fans' feelings and the need for a reaction:

Vidéos OneFootball

We understand the fans' frustration. We had a recent elimination and now we wanted to give them the victory, as they were present and supported us. Unfortunately, we couldn't secure the win today, which would have been very important for our momentum. But we can't hang our heads. All that's left is to work, talk less, and work! God willing, we'll put Galo where it deserves to be, which is 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 the passes. When we tried to drive forward, the players were all marked, and we had difficulty in the build-up. But during the break, the coach showed us what we needed to do, and we came back much better for the second half. We deserved to win the second half, but unfortunately, we conceded that penalty goal at the very end. Now we need to stay quiet and work!”

Finally, the player made a point of valuing the team's unity when asked if the goal conceded was due to a mistake by Lyanco: “When we win, everyone wins. When we lose, everyone loses. We will only get out of this situation 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 take care of the lead we had on the scoreboard. We need to win, we know that. Now it's about focusing on Wednesday's game, an important and very difficult match. We will do our best to come out with a positive result. But unfortunately, today it didn't happen.

Despite the frustration with the result, Cuello tried to highlight signs of the team's evolution but reiterated the need for victories: “I'm happy that we are evolving, but there's still a lot to improve, and we will work on that. (…) (What's missing is) confidence, we need the victories, we have to win. We leave angry and sad about the result, especially at home. Now it's about working, getting our heads straight, and only then will we get out of this”, he concluded.

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