Managerial career[edit]
Early years[edit]
Simeone ended his playing career for Racing, playing his last match on 17 February 2006, and then became manager for the same team. After a rough start, the team made an impressive finish in the 2006 Clausura. When a new club president was elected, Simeone left Racing in May 2006 and was replaced by Reinaldo Merlo.
On 18 May, he became head coach of Estudiantes de La Plata and soon led them to their first league title in 23 years after defeating Boca Juniors 2â1 in a final match played on 13 December 2006. In an October 2006 poll in the sports daily Ole, Simeone was voted as the best manager in the Argentine league.[9] He was also praised as a "born manager" by former Argentine international Roberto Perfumo.[10] Simeone left Estudiantes after the end of the 2007 Apertura, where Estudiantes was not a contender after a bad start, but had a strong finish of nine games without defeat. On 15 December 2007, Simeone was unveiled as the new River Plate coach, succeeding Daniel Passarella. The contract was reported to be a year long, starting on 3 January 2008.[11] After an early elimination in the Copa Libertadores losing to San Lorenzo in the second round, Simeone and River Plate went on to win the 2008 Clausura championship after beating Olimpo 2â1 in the Monumental.[12] On 7 November 2008, Simeone announced his resignation as coach of River Plate after their elimination at the quarter-final stage of Copa Sudamericana 2008 by the Mexican team Chivas and a poor run of form of 11 domestic games without a win which left them bottom of the Primera División Argentina with only six games remaining.[13][14] On 15 April 2009, Simeone joined San Lorenzo to replace Miguel Angel Russo, following the club's exit in the first round of Copa Libertadores 2009.[15] On 3 April 2010, the coach quit San Lorenzo due to poor results and mounting criticism.[16]
Catania/Racing[edit]
On 19 January 2011, Simeone flew to Sicily to join Serie A side, Catania, replacing Marco Giampaolo who left the club just hours earlier.[17][18] On 1 June 2011, he left his post after helping Catania stave off relegation.[19] On 21 June 2011, Simeone was named as the new coach of Racing Club for a second spell in charge, replacing Miguel Ãngel Russo who had resigned the prior week.[20]
Atlético Madrid[edit]
First years[edit]
Atlético Madrid captain Gabi celebrates after Simeone's team won the 2013 Copa del Rey Final
On 23 December 2011, Simeone was unveiled as the new Atlético Madrid coach, succeeding Gregorio Manzano who had been dismissed the day before following defeat to third-tier Albacete Balompié in the Copa del Rey. His first season ended with the team winning the UEFA Europa League by beating Athletic Bilbao 3â0 in the final in Bucharest.[21]
On 31 August 2012 he won the UEFA Super Cup, beating Chelsea 4â1 at the Stade Louis II in Monaco. On 17 May 2013, he won the Copa del Rey with Atlético beating rivals Real Madrid 2â1 at their Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Simeone led the team to a third place finish in 2012â13 La Liga, the club's best finish in the competition since winning it in 1996.
2013â14 season[edit]
Main article: 2013â14 Atlético Madrid season
Atlético began the 2013-14 season with a similar squad to last season, despite selling star player Radamel Falcao to AS Monaco for a reported â¬60 million fee, and acquiring David Villa from FC Barcelona on a free transfer. While the season began with defeat to Barcelona in the 2013 Supercopa de España, the team recorded eight straight victories in the Liga, the best league start in its history. This included a 1â0 away win at the Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid, making Simeone the first Atlético manager since Claudio Ranieri in 1999 to record a league victory there. Atlético finished the first half of the season on first place in La Liga, on the same points as Barcelona, 47. In the last round of the season on 17 May, Atlético needed at least a draw in the Camp Nou against Barcelona to be crowned champions for the first time since 1996, while a loss would give the title to Barcelona. A Diego GodÃn header from a corner kick in the 48th minute gave Atlético an equaliser and the draw that they needed to win their 10th league title, and first since 1996 when Simeone himself was an Atlético player then. Simeone became the second Argentinian manager after Helenio Herrera to hand Atlético a Spanish championship, and the second manager after Luis Aragonés to win it both as a player and as a coach of the team. Under Simeone, Atlético collected 90 points in La Liga, surpassing its 1996 record of 87, making the 2013-14 season the most successful in the club's history.[22]
Atlético finished top of their Champions League group and qualified for the quarter-finals with a 5â1 aggregate win over A.C. Milan in the last 16. This was the first time that they had reached the Champions League quarter-finals since 1996-97, when Simeone played for the team. In the quarter-finals, Atlético played against fellow La Liga team FC Barcelona, and won 2â1 on aggregate from Simeone's tactic of cutting the swift-passing midfield of Barcelona in two, thus denying them space and isolating Xavi and Andres Iniesta from Lionel Messi and Neymar. In the semi-finals, Atlético beat José Mourinho's Chelsea 3â1 at Stamford Bridge, following a goalless draw at home, to reach the Champions League Final for only the second time in the club's history, the first being in 1974.[23] Atlético was the only undefeated team in the Champions League before the final, counting 9 wins and 3 draws, and had the best defence in the competition, conceding only 6 goals in 12 matches. In the final on 24 May, Atlético faced city rivals Real Madrid in the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon. Despite leading from Diego GodÃn's header and heroically holding that lead against a team with five times their budget, the side conceded a late equaliser in the 93rd minute of the match. That goal crashed Atlético's morale and the team ended up losing 4â1 after extra time. Thus, Simeone lost the opportunity to be the third Argentine coach to win the Champions League, after Luis Carniglia and Helenio Herrera. After the last goal, Real Madrid's Raphaël Varane kicked the ball towards Simeone, causing him to run onto the pitch in anger. He was sent to the stands and Varane booked for the incident. Reflecting, Simeone said "I also made a mistake with my reaction. He's a young guy with a bright future".[24] Simeone also admitted a mistake in selecting striker Diego Costa to start the match, as he had been recently injured and went off after eight minutes.