Diego Simeone is the second coach that Luis Enrique has encountered the most in his career, fourteen times. The two men meet for the first time outside Spain for an expected duel at the Parc des Princes, Wednesday during PSG-Atlético de Madrid in the Champions League (9 p.m.).
It’s been almost eight years since they last met and it’s starting to be a long time, surely, in their minds, as the two technicians were so used to confronting each other. On 14 occasions, Luis Enrique and Diego Simeone shook hands before a meeting, between the two benches, as they will do again this Wednesday evening on the occasion of the 4th day of the Champions League between PSG and Atlético de Madrid (9 p.m.).
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A sporting rivalry was born, inevitably, between the former coach of Barça (2014-2017) and that of Atletico de Madrid, two teams with the same national ambitions. “I remember their duels in La Liga. When he was here, Luis Enrique had a great team, almost unbeatable, and Simeone is one of those who made life very difficult for Luis Enrique. Atleti is still there to wage war on the big guys”, says Toni Fabra, journalist at El Desmarque.
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Nine victories in fourteen matches for Luis Enrique
The results slightly qualify this observation, since Luis Enrique has a very positive record against his Argentine counterpart: nine victories, two draws and three defeats… including two losses when he coached Celta Vigo ten years ago. “I didn’t know he beat me so much,” smiles Simeone. “I’m pretty calm about that so we’ll give our best tomorrow.”
He nevertheless eliminated Luis Enrique’s FC Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the Champions League in 2016. The two men respect each other and have never let any major tensions appear between them on the sidelines of their numerous clashes. “I believe that there is a cordial relationship between two professional colleagues,” explains Miguel Martín Talavera, journalist at Cadena Ser. “There was a very big rivalry between Simeone’s Atlético and Luis Enrique’s Barça, but I don’t think it was something that extended to the coaches. Their relationship is not particularly fluid, I believe that Luis Enrique is not the ‘Cholo’s best friend but there is no conflict either. It is a relationship of respect towards each other’s work.
Because the two technicians have one thing in common: they give their teams a strong identity. The Parisians learned the principles of Luis Enrique: control, possession, the multiplication of passes to prepare for actions, counter-pressing to quickly recover the ball. A style different from that proposed by Diego Simeone, more energetic, categorized as “defensive” to know how to endure and sting in rapid attacks.
Relations cordiales
“We competed against each other as players (eight times, Editor’s note) and coaches,” smiles Luis Enrique. “He’s a very good coach, I admire when I see a technician last so long in a big club, because it requires a lot of energy, the difficulty of convincing your players in the long term. That means that you are a top coach. It doesn’t matter if we don’t have the same style of play.”
But in spirit, the two men would not be so far apart… “Their styles are different, but deep down they are two coaches who give a lot of importance to physicality, to pressing”, thinks Toni Fabra. “Luis Enrique has introduced something important into his game in recent years, this pressure, this bite. It’s something that Atlético already had when they were champions and won titles, and I think that it ‘is a similarity between the two.”
The Simeone style has also evolved. Today it has more creative players and offers more play than before. His team has the 7th average possession in La Liga and is the 5th with the most passes per match. Did they bring each other? “The better your rival is and the better the players in front of you, the more you learn and grow,” replies Miguel Martín Talavera. “I believe that Luis Enrique is one of the best coaches in the world, he showed it to everyone at Barça, and therefore Simeone learned a lot from his team. And Luis Enrique learned how to defend from Atlético, an almost impermeable rock against which it was very difficult to win.”
The Madrid coach is also complimentary about Luis Enrique’s PSG: “I love the way Paris plays. Their playing dynamics are excellent, they bear the mark of their coach with dynamic young players. We don’t know by where they are going to arrive. They manage to get the ball out very quickly in threes, in fours, they have a lot of positional changes. It’s the football that Luis Enrique offered everywhere he played.
When Atlético wanted Luis Enrique
In management and character, the Argentinian and the Spaniard also have some points in common: “They are two coaches with a lot of character, who express the maximum to their players and their teams”, develops Toni Fabra. “We saw it in the documentary on Luis Enrique, how he spoke to Mbappé for example. I have no doubt that El Cholo is the same in the locker room. They are two people with a great ability to convince, convince their teams to give everything and kill themselves for them on the field.”
The hug should therefore be warm this Wednesday evening, even if a year and a half ago, Atlético… approached Luis Enrique to replace Diego Simeone. The Argentinian, shaken up in his management and then last in his group in the Champions League, was contested. But he ended up staying. “It’s true, but I had already given my agreement elsewhere,” reveals Luis Enrique. “Atlético were very lucky to keep Simeone because I wouldn’t have stayed half the years he did! So they found the best coach possible. The fans are lucky.” The “Cholo” will play his 698th match this Wednesday on the bench of Atlético de Madrid. A stat that Luis Enrique must necessarily admire.
