Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has ignored Liverpool and Real Madrid as he named Arsenal as the “best team” he’s faced this season.

The Gunners hammered Atletico to pick up their third win in as many games in this season’s Champions League. The 4-0 thrashing follows victories against Athletic Club and Olympiacos.

Honours were even at half-time but Arsenal kicked into gear in the second half and were ruthless after scoring their first goal in the 57th minute.

Within 13 minutes of going one goal up, Arsenalwere ahead by four, with Gabriel Magalhaes’ opener being followed by a Gabriel Martinelli goal and a brace from Viktor Gyokeres.

Though he has faced some top sides this season, Atletico boss Simeonefeels Arsenal were the best.

He said: “Yes, I would say the best team we have faced this season.

“They compete so well, their players run and run and they have quality all over the pitch. They deserved to win today and I want to congratulate them.

“It is a learning curve. We just need to keep improving. I thought we competed really well to begin with. From 60 minutes they were the better team and deserved to win.

“We have to put this behind us now and we need to focus in training on the things that went right and we need to make improvements as well.”

Atletico lose 3-2 to Liverpool in September and then beat rivals Real Madrid 5-2 just over a week later – the margin of defeat to Arsenal does indeed suggest they were the toughest opponent of the three European giants.

MORE ON ARSENAL FROM F365:
?? ‘Great team’ Arsenal can go the whole way per Spanish media, but ‘worry’ remains for Merson
?? Gyokeres promises ‘a lot of goals’ after Arsenal brace as Arteta feels ‘debate’ is ending
?? Arsenal signing embarrasses Florian Wirtz as ‘Arteta out’ calls begin

Atletico defender David Hancko also had praise for the Gunners after the match.

He said: “It was a very tough game. You can expect this because they’re one of the best teams in the world right now – definitely.

“Personally I was up against Bukayo [Saka], which is always a big challenge. It was close at half-time, we were able to defend their set pieces and they’re the best in the world at them right now.

“In the second half, suddenly they went 1-0 up, from a set piece. Suddenly in five minutes it was 3-0. It just shows you how good they are, you cannot stop even for one second.

“We are really disappointed that we were not able to get a better result and now the 4-0 looks really bad.”

READ MORE: Arsenal are ‘boring’ and rely on set-pieces? Nope, they’re just really, really good