Atlético Madrid before the Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen: Simeone’s mission

There are pains that will not go away, no matter how many years pass. And if it happens that you think the pain will be forgotten, then the dear neighbor comes around the corner. And rummages around in the wound again.

It was half a week ago that Real Madrid advanced in the Spanish Cup against Celta de Vigo thanks, among other things, to the generous assistance of the referee team. Diego Simeone, 54 and coach of city rivals Atlético Madrid, explained the next day that he had not seen the game – but that the events had been told to him in outline.

Surprised? Oh no, said Simeone: “This has been happening for a hundred years.” It was an unmistakable allusion to the fact that Real has been legendarily often wrapped in cotton wool by referees. Carlo Ancelotti provided the receipt for this statement less than 24 hours later: “It must be the thorns that hurt,” whispered Simeone’s Real colleague. On Monday, the eve of Atlético’s Champions League game against Bayer Leverkusen, this was still an issue in Madrid. And Simeone answered again, this time with an anecdote: When Ancelotti visited the Bernabéu Stadium as Bayern coach in 2017 and was ratted out on the Munich team (“We were screwed!”, CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge raged at the time), the colleague had , said Simeone, in another way. And not digging into other people’s wounds.

Simeone himself celebrated his thirteenth anniversary with Atlético last December 29th; no coach in Spain has ever been at a single club longer than him. Simeone, known as “El Cholo”, was an Atlético player from 1994 to 1997 and left such a lasting impression that the fans were pining for him even when he was no longer on the pitch or on the bench: “ Ole, ole, ole… Cholo Simeone,” they shouted, until he was actually back in 2011, turned the club inside out, reached the Champions League final twice – and both Lost finals. Each against Real, so the spikes aren’t that far-fetched: Simeone lost to Ancelotti in Lisbon in 2014, and Zinédine Zidane in Milan in 2016. One of the stings also indirectly has to do with Leverkusen’s coach Xabi Alonso: It will never be forgotten how Alonso, who was suspended at the time, jumped from the stands onto the field in a suit and tie at the 2014 final to celebrate Real’s success with his comrades.

The fact that Ancelotti remembered this was perhaps also an accolade for modern Atlético. In the course of Simeone’s more than 700 games in office, it was rarely apparent at the turn of the year that Atlético would be an opponent for Real on all fronts. This time it is: Atlético is in the cup quarter-finals, the so-called winter championship in Spain was celebrated in the league, and things are also going well in the Champions League. In the most important club competition, Atletico is in eleventh place, but only one point behind Leverkusen (fourth in the table). Atlético often shows a friendlier face than in the past. The opponent has “perhaps one of the best squads they have had in the last ten years. I expect a top, top game,” said Xabi Alonso.

This is due to prudent transfers, which have particularly revitalized Atlético’s offensive game, and to what appears to be excellent personnel management. Simeone has managed to moderate an anomaly: his son Giuliano, 22, has earned the reputation of a regular player after loan spells at Zaragoza and Alavés, without anyone at Atlético complaining about it. The Norwegian (and former Leipzig player) Alexander Sörloth is Atlético’s most accurate attacker in the league with eight of 38 goals, but he usually comes from the generally well-staffed reserve bench. Sörloth has to take a back seat because Julián Álvarez, who was brought in from Manchester City, and Antoine Griezmann harmonize better than Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers once did. Together they have 13 goals and six assists in the league alone.

On Sunday, the longest winning streak in Atlético’s history came to an end at the suburban club CD Leganés (0-1 after winning 15 games), but Atlético also lost first place in La Liga. But, Simeone just said: “Football!” – because he knew that his team should have won again: Atlético hit the post three times, and in the end Griezmann missed a penalty. That was surprising because Atlético had specialized in last-minute goals so far this season. Across all competitions, 58 goals were scored, 21 of which came after the 80th minute. Not all of them were scored as dramatically as the goal for Simeone’s first ever win at FC Barcelona (2-1), which was countered in the sixth minute of stoppage time.

Simeone raves about Alonso’s work in Leverkusen

The desire for late cruelty towards the opponent brings back memories of Alonso’s Leverkusen from the previous season, who liked to save the punch lines until the last moment. It would be foolhardy to claim that Simeone copied that. But Simeone’s praise for Alonso on Monday was anything but mere speculation. On the contrary. Alonso did an “excellent job” and “formed an extraordinary team” at Bayer, where he particularly liked the speed, the switching actions and the positional play, said Simeone.

We want to beat Leverkusen “with our tools,” he added. Because the goal is to reach the Champions League final again, which this year offers Atlético the chance of an exorcism par excellence. Because it is being played in Munich, on the doorstep of “Katsche” Schwarzenbeck, who drove a thorn into the flesh of all Atlético fans in the 1974 final in Brussels with a late 1-1 draw for Bayern – and perhaps caused a truly lasting pain.