Simeone’s the villain on night of pantomime
UP and down his arms went, the speed decreasing with every wave. They had only been playing 10 minutes at anfield but diego Simeone was animatedly making his point.
When Simeone was whipping atletico Madrid’s fans into a frenzy at the Wanda Metropolitano in the first leg last month, you could see him hollering ‘vamos!’ repeatedly but the mantra for this absorbing evening on Merseyside was clear:
Mas Despacio!
The literal translation is ‘ more slowly’ and Simeone was making no apology for taking the fizz out of proceedings. dressed from head to toe in black and sporting heavy stubble, Simeone is a pantomime villain. He looks like a lead from a South american gangster movie — and is just as ruthless.
By hook or by crook, Simeone’s intention was to lead atletico into the last eight. He is not a manager who comes to win friends and admirers, he turns up intent on getting results and arguably puts more energy into games now than during his playing days when he knew how to be unscrupulous.
Such were the concerns about atletico’s ability to deploy the dark arts, Liverpool’s squad had held several meetings beforehand so as not to fall into any of the traps that would be set for them.
Simeone’s teams are able to make these encounters examinations of the mind and temperament, as much as skill, and from those early moments — when the argentine was squawking at goalkeeper Jan Oblak to take his time — Liverpool knew what they had to do.
The challenge became clear in the 21st minute. Trent alexanderarnold, Liverpool’s marauding full back, thundered into a challenge that left Joao Felix, atletico’s outstanding young forward, crumpled on the floor. Immediately danny Makkelie, the dutch referee, found himself surrounded by five black shirts, all of them furiously demanding that alexander-arnold receive some punishment. They were joined by Oblak and, for good measure, Simeone brandished an imaginary card.
Liverpool had not faced a team of this nature at anfield for years. Sure, they know how to break things up and make the match as messy as possible but to concentrate on that solely would do a disservice to many of the fine players Simeone has at his disposal.
Take their defence, the foundation on which everything was built. Last summer they lost the magnificent diego Godin to Inter Milan and sold Lucas Hernandez to Bayern Munich but Stefan Savic and Felipe have become an equally indefatigable partnership in front of Oblak.
Savic, of the two, made for particularly fascinating viewing. He had a season at Manchester City when they won their first title of the modern era in 2012 but his contribution was minimal and he was soon sold to Fiorentina. What Pep Guardiola would give now for a defender of this class.
He and Felipe spent the majority of the night putting themselves in the way, as Liverpool prodded and probed and kept asking questions. They were colossal, human magnets who drew the ball towards them and then smuggled it away. Equally outstanding was the Ghanaian Thomas Partey.
Simeone knew that defensive excellence would be required and that is what he got before making the final, match-defining change with the introduction of Marcos Llorente at the beginning of extra-time.
His manager did not celebrate when Llorente scored the gamechanging away goal but when he scored the second, Simeone hurtled down the touchline towards the anfield Road, smiling for the first time. There is a reason they pay him a king’s ransom. It is because he makes the difference on nights such as this.