While his teammates talked about cars, luxuries or life situations away from the ball, he was talking about the 9th of Croatia or the 10th of Finland. What was supposed to be a simple family meal often led to authentic tactical talks in which glasses, bottles and cutlery transformed the tablecloth into a football field. How revealing the image would be, during his second stage as a player at Atlético, shouting from the technical area to order the team, becoming invisible to the then coach Manzano.
Hence it would not surprise anyone when On February 17, 2006, he would bring forward his planned retirement at the end of the course to take over the reins of a Racing team. with whom he fell in love with football. With Giuliano in arms and Gianluca and Giovanni at his side, Simeone fulfilled the dream of hanging up his boots on the field that he had always wantedharassed by the dramatic situation that the team was experiencing, with relegation to B looming, Fernando ‘Teté’ Quiroz dismissed and Alberto Fanesi as interim coach.
Less than 24 hours later, Cholo stopped sweating his shirt to put on the suit with which he would become a world legend also as a coach. In the next datehe February 25, 2006made his debut on the bench against Independent with a defeat (0-2) that would be an exception in what was to come, then, game by game, this Saturday, May 2, 2026 reaches 1,000 directed meetings with an overwhelming statistic that indicates that in 56% of the time he wonbending the knee by just 22%.
A habit of winning that would be dimensioned in an Atlético team that would come to its rescue in a compromised situation, also to end up changing its history.. Not only would it banish the ghosts of another relegation, but it would forever eliminate the mentality of the Pupae to transform that team that had chained 14 years of humiliations in the derbies into the most uncomfortable opponent for any great team on the continent. The 59% of victories and the minuscule 19% of defeats speak of a work that, although no one could have imagined it so glorious, is still unfinished.
CHOLO’S 999 MATCHES
Not in vain, the thousand games he plays at Mestalla sitting on a bench (or rather finishing off on the air and transmitting his intact passion from the technical area) are the balcony from which he overlooks the possibility of sealing their presence in their third Champions League finalthe only competition in which the title has eluded him.
One title every two years
Although the eight wounds in 14 years at Atlético (including two Leagues and a Cup in the era of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo) do not stand up to any type of comparison, nor should it fall into oblivion that in its first campaign since the beginning it would champion of the Apertura 2006 to Estudiantes with an all out attack style or During his time at River Plate he would respond to the demand of a great by lifting the 2008 Clausura. Two titles that elevate ten his collection in two decades, one every 100 games in its ancient history.
A version of Luis’s win, win and win again taken to its maximum expression (Bielsa, Di Mateo, Mourinho, Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Ancelotti, Emery, Klopp, Zidane, Valverde, Sampaoli, Allegri, Koeman, Spalletti, Wenger, Benítez, Xabi Alonso, Pochettino, Inzaghi, Marcelino, Flick… are some of the names that explain their 562 victories) that makes him one of the greatest world legends on the bench. Not in vain, although it is still far from the 2,115 games coached by Alex Ferguson throughout his 39 years as a coachEl Cholo marches at the same pace as the greatest legend of Manchester United… and the planet football. And all without losing along the way an energy that, a thousand times later, remains like the first day, inviting us to believe that the best is yet to come: first, in London; then in Budapest. Of course, match by match.