Being a "son of" does not guarantee success in football.
Enzo and Luca Zidane are proof of this.
Unlike Paolo Maldini, son of Cesare and father of Daniel (20 years old).
The Simeone family swings between the two categories.
After a rich career between Atlético, Inter Milan and Lazio, marked by 109 selections with Argentina (a record at the time), Diego Simeone hung up his crampons in 2006. The rough defensive midfielder also had a nice record in his private life: five children including three sons, Giovanni (1995), Gianluca (1998) and Giuliano (2002).
The eldest, attacking Hellas Verona, made the headlines in Italy after a historic quadruple against Lazio Rome (4-1), former club of the father, last Sunday.
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"He helped me a lot to learn how to move around the field better"
Giovanni Simeone on his father Diego in August 2020
A quadruple in Serie A, it was a first since Duvan Zapata with Atalanta in January 2019. A performance that Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Alessandro Del Piero have never achieved. But nothing upsetting for Giovanni Simeone. The child of River Plate in Argentina (where the three Simeone sons were trained) already has 56 goals in 187 Serie A matches. He made the happiness of Genoa and Fiorentina, a little less than Cagliari before being loaned to Hellas Verona. "
I have prepared so much for this season, I have great confidence in myself and in the team,
" he ignited in the columns of the
Gazzetta dello Sport
beginning of October.
Words, Simeone (26) took action against Lazio, a hat-trick with the right foot (30th, 36th, 62nd) and a last goal from the head (90th + 2).
SEE ALSO -
Diego Simeone's best at Inter Milan (1997-1999)
A little brother in Spanish D4, another at Atlético
There is this part of the work, then. There is also this innate part, of an environment dedicated to football since childhood. And there is a mixture of the two. In the spring of 2020, Giovanni finds himself confined like the rest of the world. And spend time with Diego. "
I took the opportunity to do something I had never done: watch my father's training to learn the movements of Atlético forwards
," he confided in August 2020 to the Argentinian newspaper
Olé
. “
He showed me a thousand training videos and matches and helped me a lot to learn how to move better on the pitch,
” added Giovanni. His opening scoring against Lazio, after a ball call pattern in the back of the defense,is the result of these lessons.
Called for selection in 2018 (5 capes) then again in October 2020 without playing, Giovanni Simeone leads a career made of ups and downs. Do his 6 goals after 9 Serie A days this season herald an explosion? Last year, he scored 5 times in the first 6 matches… then once in the next 25. But he knows he is being supported. "
When you want to learn and you have someone like my father who gives you the opportunity, you grow up,
" he said boldly. A growth clearer than that of his younger brother, Gianluca (23), who is fighting to be a holder in the Spanish fourth division. While waiting to see what will give Giuliano (18 years), already summoned to the pros at… Atlético de Madrid, where dad has been training for a decade.
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Giuliano, the last of the siblings, may one day play under Diego's orders. And Giovanni? "
I would love to
," he smiled in 2020, while stressing that their destinies were unlikely to intersect. The native of Madrid is well in Italy. Before challenging the big names that are Juventus and Napoli, he must show that he can go on this Wednesday (6.30 p.m.) at Udinese, and guide Hellas Verona to a comfortable support. Giovanni Simeone will surely never have such a successful career as Diego's. Either way, he doesn't care. "
I no longer seek the comparison with dad,
" he dismissed for the
Gazzetta
. He has already torn off the label of "son of" a little. And that's no small feat.