Diego Simeone Again Proves Why He Should Have Won FIFA World Coach of the Year
On Thursday, Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid extended their unbeaten run over Real Madrid to five games this season.
With a 2-2 draw in the second leg, Los Colchoneros claimed a 4-2 aggregate win over their decorated neighbours in the round of 16 in the Copa del Rey, dumping Real out of the competition that Carlo Ancelotti's men claimed last year and which Los Blancos' manager described as the catalyst for the club's stunning 2014.
It now means Atletico have faced the world and European champions in three competitions this season and have triumphed in all: In August Simeone's side were superior over two legs in the Spanish Super Cup, in September they repeated the trick in La Liga and, on Thursday, reinforced their hold over Real Madrid by forcing despair and frustration upon the Santiago Bernabeu once more.
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Five games. Three wins. Two draws.
And perhaps most significantly, two Real Madrid trophy quests brought to a grinding halt by the men from the Vicente Calderon.
For all the discrepancies between these teams—squad depth, star talent, resources, revenue, pulling power, history—it's remarkable. In fact, it shouldn't be possible.
But Simeone makes it so. Continually. Time and time again.
Wrongly overlooked for the FIFA World Coach of the Year award at Monday's Ballon d'Or ceremony, the Argentinian continues to prove why, right now, he's the world's finest manager.
"We know that we are weaker than our rivals in terms of players," Simeone told Spanish TV station Canal+ in the lead-up to Thursday's clash, per Sky Sports. "But we know who we are and that is our virtue."
Though he continues to heap praise on his loyal players, it's Simeone who's shaped who Atletico are.
Prior to his arrival in 2011, Los Colchoneros had only begun to emerge from one of the most barren spells in the club's history, one that included a 14-year trophy drought that was snapped by the capture of the Europa League title in 2010 under Quique Flores. Yet the Spaniard couldn't take the club further, completing a disappointing 2010-11 campaign in which Atletico stagnated.
Enter Simeone: Three years, five titles—one of them in La Liga—and a Champions League final appearance.
In the last two seasons, his Atletico have faced Real Madrid and Barcelona on 17 occasions in all competitions. They've been beaten just four times. Four.
Two of the game's powerhouses just can't knock over Atleti.
"I know my players play them [knockout games] well, because it's a do-or-die situation and my players are not afraid of death," was Simeone's summation of his side's sterling record in pivotal matches.
It might be an extreme analogy—this is football after all—but if Simeone's players aren't afraid of death, it's because their manager stares at it in the face and grins. He knows the odds aren't in his favour and yet he wins anyway.
According to the 2014 Deloitte Money League report, Atletico sit 20th among the world's clubs for revenue. In front of them are clubs such as Fenerbahce, Hamburger SV, Galatasaray, Tottenham Hotspur and Schalke. How well are those five going in Europe?
In La Liga, Real Madrid's revenue stands at €603.9 million. Barcelona's latest figure is €530 million. At €120 million, Atletico's isn't even a quarter of those numbers. Compared to Real's, it's not even a fifth.
Among the 23 players shortlisted for the 2014 Ballon d'Or, Real Madrid had six players. As did Bayern Munich. Elsewhere, Barcelona had four and Chelsea had three.
Atletico had none.
On the 55-man shortlist for the FIFA FIFPro World XI, Atletico had one player (Diego Godin).
Logic dictates that Atletico shouldn't win. But they do.
Last season they disposed of Barcelona and Chelsea in the Champions League and came within seconds of doing the same to Real Madrid. In La Liga, they fended off both the Spanish giants and are unbeaten in five games against Los Blancos this year.
Whichever way you look at it, Simeone is achieving what the world had decided was no longer possible.
This is, of course, isn't to suggest that Joachim Low, the winner of the FIFA Coach of the Year award, didn't himself complete an impressive job in propelling Germany to a World Cup triumph. But everything was in his favour to do so.
Aside from Spain, Germany has the largest pool of talent to select its national squad from, while also being a country with an almost unrivalled footballing infrastructure. Coaching Germany to a World Cup isn't all that dissimilar to taking Bayern Munich to a Bundesliga title or Manchester United to a Premier League title: It's an expectation not a distant goal. Falling short isn't considered admirable—it's a categoric failure.
In contrast, Simeone, in the Spanish capital, is taking pipe dreams and making them realities. Atletico, by conventional wisdom, have no place among Spain and Europe's financial elite. But Simeone's Atleti stand in defiance of that thinking, shattering what people believe to be their ceiling—"I really don't know where our top is," the Argentinian said.
That, right there, is the essence of management. That is coaching—drawing every last drop of talent, skill and production out of a group of players.
On Thursday, he showcased that once more and brought about Real Madrid's demise again. Simeone's Atletico extended their hold over Los Blancos to a third competition this season.
With what he's got to work with, no other manager in the game can match that.
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