Simeone on Atlético de Madrid: “We don’t have to stop at what was done”

“There is no closer” than Atlético de Madrid was to winning the Champions League in Lisbon, in 2014, or in Milan, in 2016, as Diego Simeone reviews. Ten years have passed since the former Argentine footballer was presented as the coach of the Spanish club and, for this reason, he gave statements to the media of the same ‘blanquirrojo’ team.

“How much closer can you be to winning a Champions League than we were. Get to 93, to the extension (in 2014 in Lisbon), to penalties (in 2016 in Milan) … There is no closer. We went all that way and we were very close. We will have to keep working, searching and not be afraid of what is going to come because when it comes it will surely catch us strong “, declared in the interview to the official media of the rojiblanca entity.

“It is very difficult to repeat what we are doing ”, said the Argentine coach, who has been in charge of the Atlético de Madrid bench for ten years.

To date, Simeone has won eight titles with the mats. Two leagues in Spain, in 2013-14 and 2020-21; a Copa del Rey, in 2012-13; two European Leagues, in 2011-12 and 2017-18; and three Super Cups, one from Spain in 2014 and two from Europe in 2012 and 2018.

“We don’t have to stop at what was done, but rather keep looking for more, because life is continually looking for more.”, He stressed.

Simeone always wanted to be a coach

Since he left the rojiblanco team as a player or when in Racing de Avellaneda he changed the field of play for the bench, Simeone always had one goal: “I braced myself for this moment. I looked for him from the first day I left Atlético de Madrid as a footballer, knowing that I had to prepare and form my work group so that one day the possibility of returning would appear. It was a challenge and I knew that if that situation arose it would be in a difficult moment, as happens to all coaches “.

It was clear which was the way. “Above all, knowing our history, being a fierce, strong, committed and fast team,” he said then. “I defined what I felt at that time, by the history that I had to live as a footballer, by knowing the house and because I had come prepared to overturn that with the footballers that the club had. I understood that they could reflect the feeling I have for the game and that it absolutely identifies with the history of Atlético de Madrid “, he stressed.