If you had to choose, you'd probably consider Diego Simeone more of a dog than a cat, but there was no mistake Tuesday night: He purred about his football team. Atletico Madrid went down a man after just 25 minutes against a pacey and refined Bayer Leverkusen team, and their defense was also breached in first-half stoppage time. By the time he was full-time, Simeone would speak with a warm, fatherly pride and glowing eyes. However, Giuliano Simeone was not the object of his praise.
Los Colchoneros defeated, or rather tore apart, Sparta Prague and Real Valladolid 6-0 and 5-0 respectively in the same week in November, and yet Simeone never looked as satisfied as he did on Tuesday. El Cholo was ready for a deep sleep, fueled by everything he asks for. “Much more than just a comeback,” in his own words. Humble, leadership, talent, goals. Those were adjectives Simeone used for Julian Alvarez, but they could just as easily have been for the team, and partly explain why the World Cup winner is slowly but surely becoming the player who will justify his transfer fee.
“We talked at half-time, we perfectly identified the game we had to play and we chose how to approach the second half.”
“You see the capacity to suffer and you see the interpretation of how to approach these encounters. And they did it perfectly. We won a game that the boys will remember. Remember that game where we were one down and we turned it around with one man down? People will remember it.”
That spirit grows and rises and inflates the chests of the Atletico players, and victory in Leverkusen will ignite the furnaces at the Metropolitano. This season, Los Colchoneros have now made eight comebacks, this is perhaps their best. The defeat to Leganes last weekend and their first half threatened to take the air out of a title challenge. As Los Rojiblancos tried to match the number of players on the pitch, deliberately identifying which Leverkusen players had been yellow carded, Rodrigo de Paul beamed as he laughed maniacally to beat the opposition. Giuliano's unyielding attitude, which caused a turnaround in November, was challenging in every sprint. They enjoyed it.
“Hopefully we don't have to do it like this all the time,” Simeone said, just out of a sense of duty. It may not be good for his heart, but the reaction made Simeone as gooey as can be. “The team in the second half was commendable. It was beautiful to see, exciting. The team interpreted every situation, every game… It was much more than a comeback. There's more to it. There is a team that played with intelligence and courage, that knew how to choose the moments and look for those details that can win games.
On the other side of the result was gentleman genius Xabi Alonso. The cool figure who dismantled Bayern Munich and many others attended his post-match interview with disdain and resignation. Few have faced as many 21st century dynasties as Alonso, but against this Atletico his words were glazed with futility.
“The key moment was the 1-1. It changed the emotional moment for Atleti and that had a huge impact on us. The game opened, we could no longer read the game. Until the draw we had played a very solid match. We couldn't take the game where we wanted, that's what they're very good at, bringing it to their territory.”
“You have to manage your energy, read the game and know how to react when you are overwhelmed” – a perfect description of what Simeone's side did.
If their comeback against Leverkusen was Atletico's most impressive, perhaps their most important heroics came both away from home against Paris Saint-Germain (2-1 in November) and Barcelona in December (2-1 in December). In those matches the stakes were higher and the opposition was hungry for blood – a football siege, Atletico manning the barracks and defending the gate. Despite the exhaustion and setbacks, Atletico retained the clarity and intelligence to strike in the final seconds against all odds. Across the three matches against PSG, Barcelona and Leverkusen, Atletico averaged 32% possession and scored 6 goals from 9 shots on target, with a total expected goal score of 2.53. They were outscored 54 times to 14. It is that ability to remain tactful and be sharp-minded no matter the circumstances that suggests a shift in this Atletico Madrid.
This is not to say that Atletico have returned to their former glory stylistically, nor in terms of weapons and strategy. Certainly compared to their most recent title win, Atletico plays more fun football and with better football players. But given Simeone's reaction, the feel of his words and his admiration for his own players, character-wise, this is as 'Chista' as we've seen in a while. Reminded of their own robust nature by their victories against PSG and Barcelona, Atletico relished the toil. Against another colossus they will add this experience to strengthen an iron conviction.
Under Simeone, Atlético may still have had better squads, and this season may ultimately be less successful than others, but this group feels closer to Simeone in personality. One who “believes, works, seeks, perseveres and perseveres again.” No matter how much money or talent comes into the Metropolitano, any club, manager or individual will logically feel more comfortable with an attitude and approach that is in line with the story they have about themselves. In recent seasons, it seemed that the club's recruitment was deviating from Simeone's true wishes. Now Cholismo is again threatening an uprising.
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