Saul calls patience for Felix, hails Messi and has no words with Griezmann

Atletico midfielder Saul Niguez has revealed how he saw worries of Felix and he also talked about Messi and Griezmann.

There is a certain worry from the outside that he hasn't exploded, Joao Felix himself said in an interview that he's not as happy as he was at Benfica, you always ask for patience in the dressing room, what are your thoughts?

In the end, it's patience, it's not easy to come in like he's doing, playing lots of matches. There are players that take six, eight months, a year to settle into the team, the style, the intensity, the dynamic... It's difficult and not everyone adapts the same. And even less so when you've just turned 19 and you have the weight of the whole team on you or the price tag. 

It's not easy. He has some tremendous qualities, he's doing to get where he wants to get, but we just have to transmit this patience inside the team. The good thing is that he's working, he wants to learn and with this, things will start falling into place bit by bit. It's the same as the others, if the team is doing well, Joao will also be and if the team isn't doing well, it will be more difficult for him to stand out. 

In the end, it's tiring always being asked about one player and not about the team which is what is going to make Joao improve.

Does it not give you a sense of helplessness knowing that Barca have stood up until Lionel Messi appeared to decide the game at the end?

When you're the best, you make the difference in any detail. In the last game, in the 84th minute, with the game controlled, in an isolated move, he makes it look easy bringing the ball and beating the goalkeeper because it looks like a pass into the net. 

With the best goalkeeper in the world against him and he makes it look easy, then... Other times it's with a freekick. He has the whole range and he can hurt you from every side. If it's not with a goal, it's with a pass... He has something different to the rest, he's very difficult to stop and we try to do it in the only way we can: as a team.

It seems like the only thing you need to beat Barcelona at the moment is Messi not having his day.

I don't think it's like that. It depends on each game. What we need to do to win is to score one more goal than them, it's that simple. But yes, Leo appears lots of times and he's the one that always makes the difference.

Are you missing Antoine Griezmann's goals?

I'm not going to give my opinion about a player that isn't with us. We have to be grateful for the years that he gave us, they were great years, he was a professional on and off the pitch and we're grateful for everything he did.