The beautiful game of football is definitely one game that thousands of player have risen to the top through their involvement with the game. And as such, they’ve found a way to bring plenty of joy, and memorable moments to the fans, although when it’s time to bid the game goodbye the fans misses them, as their career is finite and they will surely hang their boots.
Naturally, when they hung their boots some of the players pursue a career in the managerial post, sports director, or as an agent, however, all of the coaching badges they acquired after hanging their boots don’t necessarily mean the dressing room experience and their playing experience does automatically make them a successful manager.
As the role of a football manager has evolved over time, not every great player go on to make a great manager, controlling gargantuan sums of transfer money, even some of the greatest managers of all time have never been top professional players. Great manager do have torrid start despite their experience, but sometimes they put themselves in the shoes of their players when they start managing a club and things aren’t going smoothly for them.
Becoming a manager of a professional club is somewhat difficult, it comes with experience as a player, in terms of acquiring the necessary badges, so in this piece, Cheapgoals will look at the life of Diego Simeone as a player and a manager.
The Genesis Of Diego Simeone Playing Career
Before the footballing world knew Simeone as a renowned, tactical, and respected manager of ‘Los Rojiblancos‘ there was Simeone the player, he was a beastly midfielder who always orchestrated the fighting spirit, and the free-flowing play of the Argentine national team, covering the pitch of play with clenched fists.
Simeone is an aggressive soccer star, who bled for every shirt on his neck for the national team and his club with a win at all cost mentality, driven by the ambition to win a trophy and to those who believe in his course fighting to the end through their veins.
All of this is what Simeone was as a player, more reason why he was adored by the many for his talent, aggressiveness, strength, power, and the knack to always fight till the end, his commitment, courage, ruthlessness and his overzealous play is what made him different as a player.
His playing style depicts that of a person holding a knife between his teeth, which he confirmed himself, in fact, his style could be interpreted in many ways, however, it is undeniable that El Cholo played like that of a soldier in a war battle and that has been instilled in him since his days in Italy when he was still very young.
Simeone was born in 1970 in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, as a young player he had the opportunity to play for Velez Sarsfield as a professional when he joined the academy of the team under the tutelage of Victorio Spinetto who was the youth manager at that time, during his stay with the youth team he learned the ethos of an ultimate warrior that never give up, who always wants to win, as failure is not a friend to El Cholo.
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Growing up as a professional with Velez, due to his aggressive play he earned the nickname ‘El Cholo’ which was the same nickname of former Boca Junior sweeper Carmelo Simeone who played the same style as that of Simeone, and was notable for his aggressiveness, ruggedity, and tenacity back in Boca.
At age 17, El Cholo made his first-team debut for Velez in a defeat to Gimnasia, a match which he instantly made his presence felt and showed how talented he was, and as a first-team player for Velez he played over 28 matches in his first season scoring just 4 goals, and he went on to build a competitive and aggressive style of play which was evident in every of his match for Velez.
Over the years with Velez, he built a well-known reputation for his box to box midfield play, tackles, passes, and the break up of opposition attacking play, although sometimes he can be very lethargic in his play yet his covering of every grass on the pitch is second to none right from his early age.
His three-year stay with Velez brought about his international debut for the Albiceleste in 1998, before the birth of his European career with Pisa, Italy in 1990, the Italian league was the most glamourous league in the world then, as such El Cholo was offered the opportunity to pitch himself against the best of best in the league for Pisa.
His stint with Pisa wasn’t as palatable as he had thought, Pisa was relegated at the end of Simeone first season with them and was unable to gain promotion back to the topflight from Seria B in the following season, as such Simeone made a defining career move to Sevilla in the summer of 1992 and he played under the tutelage of Carlos Bilardo a prominent Argentine manager who also knows the ethos of football.
Bilardo also played an important role in Simeone’s debut with Argentina before his sabbatical following his World Cup defeat, on getting to Sevilla he was reunited with Simeone at the Pizjuan Stadium, Bilardo didn’t last long with the Seville based team spending just one season with a team that had Maradona and they both left at the same time.
Simeone stayed longer with Sevilla before going on to join Atletico Madrid, a cross-town rival with Real Madrid in the city of Madrid and over the years ‘Los Colchoneros or Los Rojiblancos’ has constantly lived in the shadows of ‘Los Blancos’ in terms of winning the trophies, financial power and political might in the city of Madrid. However, if there were ever a club that is ideal for a player like Simeone then it’s definitely Atletico Madrid a team known for its irresistible and aggressive style of play.
In the 1995-96 season, ‘Los Rojiblancos’ defies the odd to achieved the unimaginable under Radomir Antic, as they went all the way to win a double ‘La Liga and Copa Del Rey’ and El Cholo was very instrumental for Atletico Madrid, at age 24 dictating play with his speed, strength and a ferocious tackle to get the ball off the opponent feet.
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Simeone was known for his leadership skills at the Vicente Calderon, now Stadio De Metropolitano, and when he took the forefront others followed in full believe of what the young Argentine can do, however having achieved success with Los Rojiblancos he left for Inter Milan in 1997, on getting to Inter he did establish himself as an important player and went on to achieved success with the ‘Nerazzurri’ under the Luigi Simoni.
In his first season with Inter Milan, El Cholo found a lot of joy under Simoni led side, a team that was full of stars like Ronaldo De Lima, Ivan Zamorano, Taribo West, and the team gelled together to win the UEFA Cup in 1998 which put a lot of smile on Simeone’s face.
In 2000, his inexplicably impressive performances for Inter Milan got him a move to one of the top team in the league S.S Lazio, a team tutored by Goran Eriksson full of stars like Sebastian Veron, Pavel Nedved, et al, attacking flair, and the mindset of winners and with the addition of Simeone. The ‘Rome’ based side won the league which was the second in their history, all thanks to the Swedish gaffer.
Having achieved success with Lazio, Simeone returned to Spain for his second stint with Los Rojiblancos in 2003, his soccer career as a professional is gradually whining down, thereafter he also played for Racing Club back in his country, Argentina where he later hung his boots after a fantastic career.
The Genesis Of Diego Simeone’s Coaching Career.
Diego Simeone popularly called ‘El Cholo’ right from his playing days at Velez, Argentina is a name synonymous with power, fearless, and aggressive play during his playing career.
El Cholo began his managerial career with Racing Club youth team known as ‘La Academia‘ as time progresses he also managed Racing Club, and led Estudiantes and River Plate to win the Argentine league, as tantalizing as his stint with the aforementioned teams was, yet we cannot forget in a hurry how going to Catania added more ginger to his managerial career before joining Los Rojiblancos as their manager in 2011.
All thanks to the opportunity given to him by Catania hierarchy to lead the team and the five months he spent with the team, recording some winning streak and critically his great result against a high flying Juventus side, a result that kept Catania in Seria A to avoid relegation.
Having prepared himself well mentality and psychological for the future back in the Argentine league, and of course at Catania, Simeone joined Atletico Madrid in 2011 to succeed Gregorio Manzano, taking over a team he knows well like the back of his hands and a team that appeared confined in the mid-table of the league. The team had achieved success under Radomir Antic in 1995-96 which Simeone played under, and before he joined they’ve also recorded success in the Europa League under Quique Sanchez Flores.
During the reign of Quique Sanchez, Los Rojiblancos were synonymous with finishing in fourth place in the league, critically in 2008 and 2009, in fact in some torrid season for Atleti they finished seventh place going 38 massive points behind Barcelona and just 15 points above the relegation water.
Thankfully to El Cholo when he arrived in Atletico Madrid, he smashed the seemingly untouchable duopoly of ‘Los Blancos’ Real Madrid and that of the ‘Catalans’ Barcelona which both teams had built in the league over the years to win the league in 2014, just three years into his reign as the manager of Los Rojiblancos with relatively limited resources.
Even before he won the league he had already won the club 10th Copa Del Rey, Europa League, and Super Cup in his first two campaigns with Los Rojiblancos, with decent players like Juanfran, Godin, Koke, captain fantastic Gabi, using all of them to achieved the unthinkable in 2014 and 2016 when he took Atleti to the most coveted UEFA Champions League Final, painfully and tragically lost to crosstown rival Real Madrid.
Diego Simeone is by all measures the greatest Atletico Madrid manager, he has been synonymous with the club as a player and as a manager for many decades, even his persona often eclipsing the club itself with how he has mastered the art of thriving in adversities and low budget, which they’ve been thriving well with under the tutelage of El Cholo, and that’s why they’ve been considered one of the most decent side in club soccer.
At the beginning of this new decade, El Cholo and his boys have found themselves in front of a seemingly unpalatable moment in the league, and the Copa Del Rey already knocked out of the Copa and languishing in 5th position on the log, with goals dried up due to some injured players, and to some extent those that have left the club, although some were brought in yet they’re still not close.
However, his legacy with the team will go on in the memories of every Los Rojiblancos faithful, but can Simeone still perform wonder with his current crop of players, and get them back to that period when no one dares talk of playing them with the aggressive style instill in them? its left to be seen.
More so, according to him when he was asked about what he expected of his player, he said “Effort is non-negotiable” which to me means not about effort alone, they could actually still achieve more success under him, although the leagues are suspended now but hopefully if the league’s resumes we could see ‘El Cholo’ and his boys go on and surprise the footballing world.
Featured Image credits: Thesefootballtimes
