“Simeone has no heart”

Filipe Luís departed from the European spotlight in 2019 when he decided to return to his native Brazil to enlist in Flamengo. There, at 35, he continues to chair from the left side and is the undisputed starter for Rogério Ceni. Nevertheless, with a tie between Atleti and Chelsea on the horizon, it is impossible that his name does not come to mind. Key in the recent rojiblanca golden stage, in 2014 he went to Stamford Bridge in exchange for 20 million euros. To return to home a summer later, 16 million through, after not performing at the same level in London as in Madrid. In the set blue coincided with José Mourinho and Eden Hazard and of them, del Cholo and its Atleti speaks in an interview with 'The Guardian'.

Simeone and his return to Atleti: “Now I can receive and send you messages as a friend, but back then, every time I got one (looks dreadfully at the interviewer), it was stressful. (In one of those messages) He told me: 'Come back, we're going to win again and I need a left back like you.' I came back, I played well and he said, 'See, you just play well with me …' It brought out the best in me. He knew every inch of my brain. “

Being trained by Simeone: “I give you my word; it is not easy to play for Simeone. It has no heart. He never says to himself: 'Oh, what a shame, poor player, I need to do this or that.' He will decide what he has to do simply in search of victory (…) He made him (Atleti) the monstrous team that they are now. That success has a name: Diego Simeone (…). He wastes no time. He will never do a workout like, 'Come on, let's have a good time today.' I was an unconfident left back in December when he arrived and the best in the world in January. He is the only one who has managed to get that out of me. “

Stage at Chelsea with Mourinho: “When I was on the bench in the first game I knocked on his door and asked: 'Why did you bring me here? Why didn't you leave me at Atlético?' He told me that he didn't feel as safe defensively with me as he did with Azpilicueta. He told me I had to earn the job. I couldn't expect by name to be the first choice. He was right, I was not playing well. But also I think you have to be in the field to improve. I don't regret the signing because it was one of the best teams in the world, but everyone wants to play! At that moment I felt betrayed. I didn't want to work with Mourinho for another year. But it wasn't his fault. We won the final and I have the medal at home. “

Hazard: “Eden, along with Neymar, are the best players I have ever played with, at the level of Messi. He did not train well, five minutes before the game he was playing Mario Kart in the locker room. He warmed up without tying his boots. But nobody could take the ball from him. He went with three or four players and won matches by himself. Hazard is very talented. Maybe he lacks a bit of ambition to say, 'I'm going to be the best player in the world.' Because it could be. “

Salah: “Training, Mohamed Salah was like Messi. It's a shame not to have played with him for longer. “

2014 Champions Final: “The day before the 2014 final I received 200 good luck messages and made the mistake of looking at them. It put a lot of pressure on me. I didn't know what it was to play a final. I ended up playing one of my best games. I never gave a bad pass, I defended Bale better than ever. It was perfect. But in the second part I started to feel cramps from the tension before the crash. “

End of 2016: “I prepared myself better. I did not reply to a single message! It was the best season of my career, but we lost on penalties. I cried a lot. Unlike two years ago, he had a feeling there would be no other chance. But, write down my words: 'I'll have another as a coach one day.'

Duels with Messi: “One day I would like to ask Messi how he felt playing against me. He faced it as the most important game of my life, because he was the best player I had ever seen. He had something, he studied him a lot, which was very important: improvise. He does not have the dribble in his head before the ball reaches him (…) I tried not to let him receive (…). If he receives the ball, one against one, it is impossible (…). There were games in which I went too far in terms of aggressiveness and they sent me off, but they never recriminated anything (…). In fact, Barcelona called me (at the end of their time at Atleti), so they must have liked my football“.