Delivery, impetus and spirit of captaincy in the center of the field. These were, apart from purely football skills, the constants of a young man in his twenties named Diego Pablo Simeone who conquered the Atletico Madrid in 1994. After having a brilliant season at Luis Aragonés' Sevilla, The player arrived on the banks of the Manzanares to become the key piece of a team that paid for him 465 million pesetas. This was the origin of the long romance that the Argentine and the red and white entity continue to have today..
Thanks to an unwavering ability to fight in the midfield - he neither gave up a ball nor spared a single drop of sweat -, Simeone soon became one of the great idols of the Colchonera fans. In his first campaign he had the challenge of leading, along with names like Caminero, Kiko or the Valencia Train, the epic of a project with which Jesús Gil y Gil sought to improve the catastrophic results of the previous year. Nevertheless, the team, that came from being twelfth, He was once again involved in a tactical insufficiency involving up to four coaches and ended up close to being relegated..
El Cholo was the counterpoint to that shipwreck and took advantage of the year very well to justify his signing. In the 29 league matches and 8 Cup he played, all of them as holder, was always at the level of expectations, providing combat, mobility, ball recoveries, game vision, order and technical skill. He made his complete midfielder profile clear, He recorded a total of eight goals and one assist and sowed hope in the fans and in sectors related to sports results predictions.. In this way, The sectors most specialized in football statistics began to improve the quotas referring to the Atlético de Madrid bets looking ahead to the next campaign and upcoming matches.
After the fiasco in terms of titles of this first contact, the stage of splendor arrived for the Argentine, the historic double arrived. In the 95/96 The mattress entity put Radomir Antic in charge of the bench and the board gained balance, verticality, happiness, high pressure and set piece strategies; The additions of Milinko Pantic and Lubo Penev gave touch and dynamite. With all this cocktail involved, Simeone's figure became great in his most reaching version. He scored a dozen goals that helped put the league tournament and the Copa del Rey in the showcases., a feat that the club has not repeated since then.
In his third campaign dressed as an Atlético, The Buenos Aires footballer lived what was possibly his most bittersweet season in the capital of Spain. Although he had the privilege of making his debut in the Champions League, even managing to reach the quarterfinals, its differences with Antic, who considered him a tired player, They made him lose prominence on the pitch and the following summer he signed for Inter Milan. He spent a couple of years there and then was transferred to Lazio., until in 2003 He returned to the Calderón to play as a libero for another two years, the last of them in an almost testimonial way. already 2006 He hung up his boots on the back of the club of his loves, the Racing Club of Avellaneda.
It was precisely there, after an entire career leading the midfield, where Simeone began his career as a coach. In the following five years he directed the technical areas of Estudiantes, River, San Lorenzo, Catania and Racing again, until Atlético de Madrid set their sights on him again at the end of 2011. What follows is well known: the Argentine adds 12 consecutive years on the red and white bench, from where he has won eight titles and has managed to completely change the horizon of a club that previously languished and is now known as, without complex, to the biggest in the league.
El Cholo has just renewed his contract until 2027 and he is already the coach who has spent the most seasons leading a team in the history of Spanish football., above the eternal Luis Aragonés. In all that time he has added to his athletic record with two Leagues, Copa del Rey, Spain Supercup, two Europa League and two European Super Cups. His career leaves a balance of 380 wins 642 matches, some numbers that have undoubtedly underpinned this latest renewal. Now it's time to think about future plans.. Simeone is aware that the fans want to win titles, that being third is no longer a consolation for a team that is used to living in that position.
