Simeone: It's clear there is something I have to improve Atletico Madrid Took responsibility for the defeat

Diego Simeone was more than willing to take responsibility for Atletico Madrid's performance and defeat at Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday.

El Cholo watched his side put in a passive display in the first half before changing the game for the better with his substitutions.

"The first person responsible is me, it's clear that there's something I need to improve," Simeone said afterwards.

"We struggled going forward, we didn't create chances, and it was completely different in the second half.

"When words are repeated, they don't have meaning, you have to have facts."

Atletico found it difficult to defend from corners in the first half and conceded the opener when Thomas Partey headed into his own net from one

"Evidently, in football there are always errors and mistakes and we have to accept that these things happen," Simeone said.

"We struggled at set pieces, they did them very well by putting tall players at the front post, that's how the first goal came about.

"We have to look at ourselves calmly, knowing where we play and how we're playing, strengthening in positive situations that we have.

"We're starting to think about giving regular game time to those that had a good second half at Sevilla and those that finished well in the second half [against Leverkusen]."