Diego Simeone refused to blame the referee for failing to award a penalty in the second half for Atletico Madrid's defeat by Arsenal.
Referee Daniel Siebert ignored Atletico Madrid's protests over Riccardo Calafiori's foul on Antoine Griezmann in the 56th minute at the Emirates Stadium.
The referee instead gave Arsenal a free kick for Marc Pubill's foul on Gabriel a few seconds earlier.
Bukayo Saka's goal before the break gave Arsenal a 2-1 aggregate victory to advance to the Champions League final in Budapest, where they will face Paris Saint-Germain.
"I'm not going to focus on simple things like the Griezmann incident. Obviously, it was a foul. The referee said there was a foul committed by Marc (Pubill) against one of their players."
"I'm not going to focus on that. It's just an excuse, and I don't want to make excuses," Simeone said in a post-match news conference.
Simeone said he felt calm and peaceful after his team gave everything during the two legs of the match.
"We got to a place that nobody ever imagined, competing with a team that has incredible strength. I'm proud to be in the position I am now."
"In pre-season, when the team was introduced, I said we would compete. We compete. Unfortunately, we haven't won anything yet, but we've reached places that aren't easy to reach," said Simeone.
Atletico Madrid will end the season without a trophy - having also lost the Copa del Rey final and fallen well behind Barcelona and Real Madrid in LaLiga - but Simeone praised his team's campaign in Europe, which saw them knock Barcelona out in the quarter-finals.
"We have grown a lot in every aspect, we are a recognized club in Europe and the world. However, the fans want to win. Reaching the semi-finals is not enough," said Simeone.
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