If something is clear in the imagination of Atlético de Madrid, it is that Diego Pablo Simeone is little less than a football God for the club and its parish. He is almost fused with the flag and with the shield. Well, Cholo received whistles from some of his fans on more than one occasion for replacing or not giving João Félix enough space. This Sunday, the Barcelona player on loan from Atlético faces for the first time the club that still owns his record. Different voices in the red and white world have intervened to try to expose the reasons for the deep disagreement between the Portuguese and Simeone, which resulted in a loan to Chelsea in January and another in the summer to Barcelona. Neither of the two parties has signed the peace song and they continue to send messages. The second round will be tougher at the Metropolitano, which fired the playmaker amid serious insults aimed at his mother. It was after the footballer said that he wanted to go to Barça.
What a difference from when he landed at Atlético as a substitute for Griezmann who had just arrived at the Camp Nou. “It was the great bet of the owner, Gil Marín,” recalls Javier G. Gómara, a Mundo Deportivo journalist who has closely followed Atlético’s news for years. He cost no less than 127 million, but he was never the apple of Simeone’s eye.
Of course, it cannot be said that they did not give him opportunities. “Whenever he has been good, Cholo has put him on. He performed very well at the beginning, and in the League that Atlético won he is at a very high level until he is injured in December. He then forces himself to come back and lend a hand in achieving the title,” explains Gómara.
To explain why João Félix does not succeed at the Metropolitano, a main reason emerges. That of the style of play. “When the player starts to think more about himself than the team, problems arise. With Simeone, defending is not negotiable. There is the example of Griezmann, a talented player, but one that he also defends. From then on, Jõao’s environment doesn’t help him much and puts birds in his head,” says Gómara. “Barcelona has a different style than Atlético and everyone knows I like it better,” João Félix would say to the four winds after his first game as a starter with the Blaugrana team. Words that had their reply from Simeone’s mouth: “When you don’t understand the idiosyncrasy of where you are, it is difficult to live together. There is no one above the club.”
But beyond the style, Simeone’s sacrificed, the player’s painterly, another reason affected his lack of continuity at Atlético: injuries. He was in the dry dock up to nine times in the three and a half seasons that he wore the Atletico jersey. A total of 269 days of sick leave. It is thus difficult to comply with the regularity that Simeone wanted and whose lack his former teammates Griezmann and Saúl have now reproached him for.
“What I want is for him to be a regular player,” Cholo claimed at the time. “There were times when he did very well, but you have to be constant and he got tired. When you get here you know what the coach is like, the team, and either you adapt and work for it or things don’t work out for you,” Griezmann said in Movistar. In the same microphones, the Portuguese answered: “I do not agree. “Everyone has their opinion and I am not going to comment.”
Meanwhile, Saúl reproached him for saying he could have done better. “That’s obvious. We can all do better. The fault was not of one, but of several,” replied the Barcelona player, who added about his possible continuity at Barça: “I am happy here. If I stay, very good, my family is very well and we will see what happens in the future”.
No one missed the playmaker’s gesture of kissing the Barcelona shield when he scored against Porto, just before facing Atlético. “We must keep in mind that many players kiss the shield; I don’t know what’s on his mind right now, I haven’t spoken to him in two years, but, really, if he kisses the Barcelona shield it’s because he feels Barcelona; If not, I wouldn’t kiss him. That said, I hope he doesn’t celebrate if he scores a goal,” commented Atlético president Enrique Cerezo.
In the red and white universe there is the feeling that time has ended up proving Simeone right in this fight. This Sunday, a morbid reunion.
