Real Valladolid coach Miroslav Djukic has defended Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone for his decision to send goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo up for a late corner in their 2-0 defeat Europa League to Rubin Kazan.

Instead of Atletico grabbing an equaliser, Rubin went straight up the other end to score the second and Djukic, whose side face Atletico on Sunday, has said that if the gamble had paid off Simeone would be applauded.

"If Asenjo had scored we would all be applauding Simeone for bravery," AS quotes Djukic as saying. "The defence were not quick enough to recover, that for me was the biggest mistake.

"Atletico is still a team that has achieved extraordinary things. They are second in the table and still in the Copa del Rey, with a chance in the Europa League."

Valladolid are currently 10th in La Liga.