Kolkata:
Juergen Klopp was once caught by surprise, mildly offended even, but everyone in Spain knows that Diego Simeone does not stay for after-match formalities. No disrespect, I just don’t like it, he has said. So, television cameras caught Simeone on the stairs waiting for the final whistle. And sprinting through the tunnel after it.
This was the first time that Atletico Madrid had beaten Barcelona at Camp Nou on his watch. And Atletico Madrid have been on his watch since 2011. In that time, Simeone, 55, has won two La Liga titles, two Europa League trophies, a Copa del Rey and a Spanish Super Cup and played in two Champions League finals.
The 2-0 win on Wednesday, courtesy a delectable free kick from Julian Alvarez and an opportunistic finish from Alexander Sorloth, against 10-man Barcelona was also a first since February 2006 for Atletico. Not even a result this momentous got Simeone to go against the grain.
Maybe because it is only half-time in this Champions League quarter-final. Yes, they beat Barcelona in 2014 and 2016 but the visiting team are capable of resurrection. Paris St Germain and Liverpool know that. Atletico beat Barcelona in the Copa del Rey but lost in La Liga at the weekend. It could be close next Tuesday.
Earlier this season, Atletico had given Real Madrid a roundhouse whack. Alvarez had scored from a free kick in that match. So, it is not as if they do not know how to play. It is just that they usually play a different way. One that was evident on Wednesday.
Robin le Normand’s challenge on Marcus Rashford, Nicolas Gonzalez chasing down and dispossessing Gavi, Juan Musso’s save off Lamine Yamal, Atletico becoming a back five typified the kind of defensive steel Simeone’s Atletico are known for.
There were fouls from Alex Baena (Atletico won that metric 18-7) and Koke, who could have been booked for body-checking Gavi and was for a foul on Dani Olmo, that disrupted Barcelona’s momentum. It was why despite 20 attempts, four times more than Atletico, Barcelona could not make their domination count.
Pep Guardiola once said Atletico’s low block style was pre-historic. Simeone did not react. Instead he said they try to do their best with the “characteristics” of the players they have. And that they have found a way.
One where the counter-attack and choosing the moment to launch one is crucial. It led to Pau Cubarsi’s foul on Giuliano Simeone and a red card in the 44th minute after Alvarez found him in space. This was Cubarsi’s second red card in the Champions League and Barcelona’s 12th in the past 10 seasons, which is the most in the competition.
Alvarez curled the 45th minute free kick over a leaping Robert Lewandowski and got it down to beat Joan Garcia. It was his 15th goal in 18 matches in Europe. Sorloth’s goal too came against the run of play, the big striker showing why there will be much more than Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard for Norway in the World Cup. “Through good teamwork, we were able to capitalise on key moments,” said the Atletico head coach.
Diego Simeone’s football impresses me, Phlipp Lahm has said in The Guardian. He described the 2016 semi-final against Atletico Madrid as “180 minutes of the highest intensity.” In a storied career as a player that included two spells at Atletico, Diego Simeone was a version of this. He is remembered for sending David Beckham off in the 1998 World Cup but without his smarts, Argentina would not have got the early penalty.
In all black, his tie a deeper shade than his shirt, Simeone comes across as a tough-as-nails character. It showed in how he dismissed Marc Pubill’s hand ball saying not penalising the defender was commonsense. (Aston Villa’s Tyron Mings had not got off this lightly in the Champions League in 2024 but Arsenal’s Gabriel had in the season prior).
And then, Simeone surprised everyone including Griezmann sat next to him by thanking the player as an Atletico fan. “I care about you deeply. But if you don’t run tomorrow, you are off,” he said. When Alvarez scored against Real last September, Simeone had wept. When Spain were hit by flash floods leading to over 200 deaths in 2024, he had spoken about the pointlessness of football going ahead.
A football obsessive known to use cutlery at home to think tactics, Simeone has passed on his love for the game to his three sons. La Liga’s longest serving manager and the second in terms of longevity in Europe’s top five, there is more to Simeone than what the world sees on the touchline. Like his team.