Last night, at El Chiringuito, my friend Fran Garrido said that Simeone had a new assistant to work on getting the ball out because, after eleven years, he had realized that the game was not evolving. Eleven years? Only eleven? Has it only taken you eleven years to realize that? They seem few to me, really. If Simeone has taken eleven years to come to the conclusion that Atleti had a problem when it came to playing the ball from behind, it doesn’t surprise me that they have to extend his contract until at least 2027. And, by the way, does he have to extend his contract? Wouldn’t it be more direct and I suppose also cheaper to sign the person who is helping the highest paid soccer coach in the world to get his team to play the ball fluently from the defense?
My colchonero friends, and I have them and they are very good ones, sometimes ask me what I have against Cholo and I always answer the same thing: absolutely nothing. I really like Simeone and he seems like a good coach, probably worse than his journalism sycophants think, but a good coach nonetheless. So not only do I have nothing against him but, deep down, I am grateful to him for giving La Undécima to Real Madrid on a silver platter. But, and although what I am going to say may seem revolutionary to perioathletics, journalism must be critical, and it turns out that Simeone is there, in Atleti, and he does things well and he does things badly. And, from the point of view of a Real Madrid fan, it is not very good and it is not easily acceptable for the coach of such a big club to say, as he said the other day, that half of Spain thinks that Real Madrid adulterates the competition. If so, Cholo, believe me, is the sad Spain that attacks Amancio Ortega for being rich and Julio Iglesias because he doesn’t sing well. It’s as if we had assumed that Real Madrid can be insulted, humiliated, tarnished and denigrated without anyone batting an eyelid. And Real Madrid is not worried about what Cholo may say or not say because he is infinitely bigger than him, but it catches my attention, it surprises me, in the same way that I was surprised that at the time he said that that League which Barcelona later ended up winning, was dangerously prepared for Madrid to take it.
Anything goes? I do not think so. It is one thing for Florentino’s Real Madrid to lash out at Simeone, who has said something very serious, with the whip of his indifference, and quite another for the rest of us to ignore it. I have nothing against the fact that, according to information from El Español, Simeone receives a bonus of 6 million euros per year until 2027 if Atlético de Madrid is among the top three in the League, but I do have to say that in the Real Madrid, which is Gil and Simeone’s obsession, things don’t work like that. Manuel Pellegrini, who today triumphs on the Betis bench, was told off for bragging about finishing second behind Barça while at Atleti they reward you for being third. Man, I won’t be so bold as to say that this adulterates the competition because, at the end of the day, Club Atlético de Madrid Sociedad Anónima is a private entity and its board of directors can reward its workers for whatever they see fit, for be third, fifth or penultimate, but if it does not adulterate it does amputate competitiveness in a certain sense, right? It does not adulterate but it is indolent, it does not adulterate but it is lethargic. And to what extent? Well, to the point of seeing another good friend of mine, José Damián González, saying that it seems like a miracle that Atleti has won two Leagues in the last twelve years. A miracle with a four hundred million budget? How is Cholo not going to spend sixteen years on the Atleti bench if that is the Comodín spa, it doesn’t matter if he comes first, second or third.
The other day Simeone spoke again about his League, the Atleti League. Because for Cholo there are two Leagues, one that Real Madrid and Barça play and another that the others play. This is not really the case because Alavés, Celta de Vigo or Osasuna would not be able to access the League that, according to their coach, Atleti plays, and for the same budgetary reason, but well… As it turns out, the Atleti League is Play against Real Sociedad, Sevilla or Athletic, if Atleti finishes third it is as if they had actually won the League, right? Thank God, and always thinking about my mattress friends, he also said in that interview that now they are more ambitious. Does that mean that he is content to finish second like Pellegrini or that he even dreams of the miracle of the real League?
Of course, the example that, from above, they give to Simeone is not that he is very advanced either, to be honest. The owner is brave to say that Real Madrid adulterates the competition but then, when they ask Enrique Cerezo about the SuperLiga, he goes and says that it is the best for the future of football. “And why did Atleti leave?” they ask. Answer: “To avoid a sanction from UEFA.” I am left speechless at such a brave gesture. Titans like these are the ones the country needs in these moments of tribulation. And with principles: I know very well that what I defend is the best but I’m running away because the milkmaid from Ceferin is coming. And if, furthermore, I leave Florentino, who was the one who sneaked us in, hanging, all the better. Heroes of May 2. Lifetime contract for Cholo now.
2023-11-15 17:40:23
#Life #contract #Cholo #penultimate #living #raulista
