Simeone, from myth to mortal

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The wound of defeat is deeper in coaches with long stays on the same bench.

Diego Pablo Simeone is no stranger to that incontestable passage of time that returns myth to earthly mortality.

Beyond the future consequences that his second elimination in the Champions League group stage may have, the internal signals that have been emitted at the club since the start of this season is that he has lost his unquestionable status.

ATM Athletic

two

Griezmann, Mario Hermoso (Saúl, min. 45), Morata (Matheus Cunha, min. 61), Kondogbia, Correa (De Paul, min. 45), Oblak, Reinildo Mandava, Carrasco, Giménez (João Félix, min. 87) , Nahuel Molina and Witsel

BLE Leverkusen

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Robert Andrich, Kouakou Odilon Kossounou, Jeremie Frimpong, Mitchel Bakker, Hradecky, Adam Hlozek (Timothy Fosu-Mensah, min. 89), Piero Hincapie Reyna, Callum Hudson Odoi (Amine Adli, min. 60), Nadiem Amiri, Moussa Diaby ( Paulo Henrique, min. 76) and Edmond Faycial Tapsoba (Jonathan Tah, min. 60)

Goals

0-1 min.

9: Moussa Diaby.

1-1 min.

21: Aleppo.

1-2 minutes

28: Callum Hudson Odoi.

2-2 min.

50: Paul's.

Referee

Clement Turpin

Yellow cards Hradecky (min. 64), Mitchel Bakker (min. 65), Piero Hincapie Reyna (min. 78) and Kondogbia (min. 86)

"Clear end-of-season match," a high-ranking club employee pronounced two weeks ago convinced after the hasty victory and the bad game displayed in the Metropolitano against Girona (2-1).

The great social mass that respects and venerates him for having witnessed one of the best stages in the club's history, if not the best, has also increased his number of open critics.

The wicks are shorter than ever.

Rarely had whistles and reproaches sprung from the stands, so often, for the poor performances offered by Simeone and his footballers.

This course there have already been several occasions in which the Argentine coach has listened to the complaints of the fans.

Simeone is no stranger to the amplification of the buzz that has been questioning him internally and externally for months.

Hits like the one in this Champions League increase the conviction of those who believe that his successful stage at the helm of Atlético may have come to an end.

When he was unquestionable, few opposing voices dared to express, even in private, criticism of whether he was getting the most out of the squad.

Now, announcing the end of his cycle or pronouncing the word wear in a corridor or in the Metropolitano parking lot seems to be less of a problem.

Even in the club there are those who explain that it is already raining on wet, that its continuity has already begun to be questioned during the pandemic season, when before the break with 11 games to go, Atlético was sixth in the standings after Real Sociedad and Getafe,

I played very badly and was in free fall.

He ended up reaching the Champions League positions and the following year he won his second League.

That league title buried doubts about whether it was convenient to extend his stage.

The irregular last campaign and the bad start of this one have unearthed the same debates that already questioned Simeone.

Atlético's leadership is convinced that the squad is more than just being eliminated from the Champions League —in a group with Porto, Club Brugge and Leverkusen—, and eight points behind Real Madrid with just 11 games played.

The irregular last campaign and the bad start of this one have unearthed the same debates that already questioned Simeone.

Atlético's leadership is convinced that the squad is more than just being eliminated from the Champions League —in a group with Porto, Club Brugge and Leverkusen—, and eight points behind Real Madrid with just 11 games played.

The irregular last campaign and the bad start of this one have unearthed the same debates that already questioned Simeone.

Atlético's leadership is convinced that the squad is more than just being eliminated from the Champions League —in a group with Porto, Club Brugge and Leverkusen—, and eight points behind Real Madrid with just 11 games played.

So far this season, the sensations have never been good in the Champions League or in the League.

Once again, an irregular team has emerged in the face of the attempt to take another step forward in its approaches as demanded, for a long time, by the maximum shareholder, Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, and the sports director, the Italian Andrea Berta.

Simeone's solution to cut the bad dynamics in which the team had entered, materialized with the defeat in the derby against Real Madrid, has not been far from those he has always used in similar situations.

The return to his header score, 4-4-2 and the team withdrawn into their own field, has once again been applied as a remedy.

That return to the principles in which he feels safer to achieve the result took away his attempt to improve the game through João Félix under the premise of "this year, João and 10 more".

Pulse with João Félix

In that more cement version, the one that has fit the least in the starting eleven and as a replacement has been the Portuguese attacker.

Questioned how he has felt, Simeone has chosen to be more Simeone than ever with the most expensive signing in the club's history (126 million) considering that since the aforementioned derby he is only the fifth striker.

The numbers say that, beyond offering a rockier image with ups and downs, Atlético has been left out of the Champions League without the participation of João Félix and that in the League it is at the same points as Madrid, eight, of which it was after stop counting on the luso.

The substitutions of João Félix do not stop being a pulse to the property.

The same as the discussions because Griezmann had to play only half an hour as a pressure measure to pay less to Barcelona for his transfer.

This episode had one of his biggest disagreements when Simeone, fed up with being questioned about the strange substitutions of the Frenchman, hinted at a press conference that he was following orders from the club.

The "I'm hard-headed" that he pronounced on Wednesday in the press room to warn that, as long as the club gives him the chance, he will try to qualify Atlético and win the Champions League, was significant.

The same as his phrase from a week ago, which seemed like a message to the club: "I'm not leaving, I am."

The more he is questioned internally, the more he has been in charge of disclosing his wishes to continue.

In times of fat cows, his desire for continuity did not manifest them so often.

Another sign of his passage from myth to mortal.

Like the decreased intensity of his defense in the club's statement in the crisis last season.

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