Diego Simeone took time out to speak with FIFA at last week’s Ballon d'Or awards and gave an insight into his ideas on life at Atletico Madrid.
The Argentine granted an extensive interview during which he touched upon his team’s playing style and the term ‘Cholismo’ [a take on his nickname El Cholo] that has been used to describe it.
“At Atleti it’s true we have a clearly identifiable playing style. I’ve always said the teams that best promoted those ideals were Estudiantes de La Plata, where I coached for 18 months, and this Atletico side,” he told fifa.com in article published on Tuesday.
“That said, I wouldn’t go so far as to talk about ‘Cholismo’, even if my teams do play in a certain way. We don’t just play direct football because they are cliches that are used when a team can’t find a way past us. That’s not our problem.”
Simeone was asked about the decision to risk Diego Costa in last season’s Champions League final against Real Madrid, the striker having been struggling with injury prior to the match in Lisbon.
“With Diego Costa it was a very considered decision given the final of the Champions League was at stake. I always tell people that the day before the game Costa was doing 100-metre sprints and looked like an athlete.
“I reasoned that if he could just give us 45-50 minutes then it’d be worth playing him, especially given his importance to us. Unfortunately, fate had other ideas and we lost a potential match winner [after just eight minutes].
“But he wasn’t the only one. Arda [Turan] got injured too and couldn’t play. Even so, we still competed at a very high level.”
Simeone revealed that he has still not watched the game and has no plans to do so.
“No I haven’t watched it. You can’t turn back time and when you cannot go back then it’s better not to dwell on the past,” he explained.
