Cholo’s difficult birthday

Simeone turns 52 today. And he does it at his rarest moment at Atlético. Because the anniversary of ten years has been clouded by the results, by the irregular season of a squad that was already champion and that added De Paul and Griezmann and that looked everything in the face. Or he pretended because, in reality, he won’t win anything. His only real title is the one that remains and that is not a trophy: qualifying in the top four, in those positions that give access to the next Champions League. He is fighting it (61 points, 4th) with Barça (63, 2nd), Sevilla (63, 3rd), Betis (57, 5th) and Real Sociedad (55, 6th) without finishing hitting the table. It seemed so when he coined the LaLiga 14, leaving behind the bad numbers (for the first time at Atlético four straight losses), but after the March break the team does not fly the same: six games, four without a goal. The last one is a 0-0 against Granada. And now comes Athletic. And then Madrid, Sevilla, Elche and Real.

He has not found the Cholo key this season. He blows out the candles with the shadow of the results and that terrible personal pain: a month ago his father, Don Carlos Simeone, his guide and his beacon, passed away. The image of the excited coach in the minute of silence that the Metropolitan dedicated to him at Atlético-Alavés continues to break his heart. At the other extreme is his son, Giuliano, the youngest of the three he had with Carolina Bandini, his first wife. It is the reference of Atlético B. An Atlético B that has led to promotion (from Third RFEF to Second RFEF) with 25 goals (and dedication to the third amphitheater, to his grandfather, when he scored in the game in which the rojiblanco subsidiary rose in category).

Chosen best of the category for The Important from elgoldemadriz, does not stop there: he has already debuted with the first team. He did it in the last game of the rojiblancos, Atlético-Granada, when he came on in the 90th minute for Llorente. By own merits, not by surname. He will hold his father’s hand tight today when he blows out the 52 candles on the cake, like so many times his grandfather did. For the five finals to come.