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La Liga Hangover: Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid Mean Business
- Updated: October 3, 2016
It had ended with the ball flying chaotically from end to end and with everyone exhausted, but more than anything, it had ended with him.
Kevin Gameiro had just slipped the ball under Diego Alves when Diego Simeone erupted on the touchline, thrusting his arms into the air and his head back, palms open as he roared into the Valencian sky. No one had ever looked more like Vincent Chase’s Pablo Escobar from Entourage, and in this case, that’s a good thing.
As Atletico Madrid sealed their 2-0 victory over Valencia on Sunday, we got the unadulterated version of Simeone, and that’s the best kind. When the Argentinian completely lets go, throwing aside the obligation many in his position feel for a certain restraint, all feels right in the world of Atletico. Ditto when the mantra follows.
“When the final whistle went, I got all of the players together and told them that our strength is what we do as a group,” he said in Sunday’s post-match press conference. “If the players understand that the team always comes first, that is what matters.”
One of the ways in which Simeone is unique is that he doesn’t talk the way he acts.
For most managers, their demeanour behind the microphone is an extension of that from the touchline, but the Atletico boss isn’t most managers. His skill is for compartmentalising, swapping ferocity for calculation in a manner that must unnerve rivals. “What frightens us most in a madman,” the French poet Anatole France once said, “is his sane conversation.”
Simeone’s isn’t a madman by that definition, but you get the point. After a difficult period during the early weeks of the season when they slumped to consecutive stalemates with Alaves and Leganes, when Antoine Griezmann uttered those words on relegation and when Simeone curiously negotiated a reduction in his contract, he and Atletico now look and sound right again.
Sunday’s victory over Valencia at Mestalla took them top of the table and was emphatic, even if it was a little tense at the end. Atleti dominated the ball in a way they rarely do, slicing the hosts open with a certainty in their method of attack.
In total, they took 17 shots on goal, 10 of them on target, per WhoScored.com. Alves saved eight of them, including two quite incredibly from the penalty spot, but that he did only served to highlight that this was a hammering in every way but on the scoreboard.
Atleti top!https://t.co/nBipcUNvJy pic.twitter.com/MttyxzvsOz
— AS English (@English_AS) October 2, 2016
This had been a huge 12 days for Atletico. Heading into an international break, they were facing clashes with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, a tricky home fixture with Deportivo La Coruna and a trip to Mestalla. For a team that entered such a stretch surrounded by a subdued vibe and uncomfortable questions, 10 points from 12 is some return.
It’s not just the points, though. Since those opening draws that looked damaging at the …
