Spanish Super Cup Final: Zidane vs Simeone: more love than hate and more like differences

Friday in Jeddah dawns with the drowsiness of a Spanish Sunday. In the festive Arab, shops closed, the dense traffic disappeared and not a soul in the street. From the hotel of Real Madrid, the players watched the calm Red Sea, with the local families starting to sit in the shade on the promenade and some car accelerating down the wide avenue that borders the beach.

From a 4×4, a girl peeked out from the ceiling. Safety measures behind the wheel must still be improved in Arabia. Women, of course, drive with full freedom … provided they can afford the license, four times more expensive than the male. Many, for this, circulate without papers. And if there is a blow, it is solved by removing the wallet. Simeone took advantage of the day to be with his wife and daughter, Francesca, the surprise guest the night before the stadium press room King Abdullah.

The girl did not stop greeting her dad, before starting the review of the frantic game that had just lived between the Atlantic and Bara. The rojiblanco coach, still shocked by the victory and the last historic minutes of the semifinal, was trying to peek between the microphone and the iPad in front of him to cross his eyes with the little girl. At the moment, he only deviated from his cherub and the summary of such a semi-final Catholic to talk about Zidane. He did it with apparent frank admiration, as on previous occasions.

The acidic tone that he usually uses towards Real Madrid or everything Real Madrid changes when asked about the Marseille technician. Do not bullet or double intention, at least at first sight. Nor does he use excessive praise wanting to put pressure, like the one he dedicated to Casemiro before the final of Miln (2016). He wanted to make the Brazilian rookie nervous. With the French he does not save praise, and so it has been in recent years of such intense rivalry. On the contrary, the same thing happens. The applause is mutual.

It's a long statement from Simeone, but it's worth it. Define well the merits of Zidane in these months of competition. He is a fantastic coach, absolutely suitable for Real Madrid; The results speak for themselves. The change of the team from the beginning of the season to today is reflected in the field. The absences of Hazard, Bale, Benzema … And five midfielders in the field, which can be played with five midfielders !, always with movement and precision. The other gives the demonstration, making a great game. This Friday, in the white concentration, ZZ read these cordial words. Your answer, on the same line, arrive this Saturday sure in the pre-final of the Super Cup of Spain.

Historical rivalry

To be the tenth time the two face each other, with three victories for now for Zidane and two for Simeone. The white ones were divided between a League match, a Champions League final and the first leg of a semifinal. Those of the Argentine, in a garter derby and that last European night of Vicente Caldern, a 2-1 that did not prevent the elimination of the Atlantic after the unforgettable play of Benzema. In the only recent final that both teams played, the European Super Cup 2018, there was Zidane, but Lopetegui, and Simeone took the opportunity to take that summer title in extra time.

He likes things about him and also Guardiola, a collaborator of the Madrid technician pointed out in Jeddah. A few weeks ago, when the draw for the eighths of the Champions matched them with Manchester City, ZZ said that Catalan was the best in the world. Admire the intensity and motivation that the Cholo puts in, ensure theirs. Those two faces, good taste with the ball and energy can draw well the profile of his dreamy style, where they live together Casemiro and Isco, Valverde and Kroos; forcefulness, dynamism and finesse. Everything, without forgetting the attitude, because the violinists (James or Marcelo) know that if there is no sweat, there is a bench. A philosopher sheltered by the thrust of determination and the government that provides the immense quality of its players.

As for the motivation, Zidane does not spend the fire of Simeone, helped the Argentine by the language and the handling of the sentimental pinches that he uses so well with the attic parish, between slogans, closing of rows and the clear identification always of the enemy ( white, if applicable). The Madrid coach admires his rival's ability to always find a plug to charge his team. Simeone, in the other corner of the ring, recognizes the charisma radiated by his contestant in the locker room, capable of activating legs and minds through the respect he infuses and ties him with the players. Isco is the last example, of the eviction of brightness in a short time thanks to the confidence he has given and the response he has received.

Blackboard not rated

The two are also recognized more for their status as a symbol and for the management of personnel than for their tactical merits. Animator one and aligner, another. These labels hang them, while it is difficult to find underlined their work on the board. The two semifinals, without going any further, carried their signature. Zidane's for that striking spinal with five players, maybe repeat Sunday. Madrid has been denounced, at the beginning of the year, for its lack of troops in the center of the field to reload it to the top, thus achieving a mastery of the game that had not shown time ago. In the victory of the Atlantic, as in that of his rival on Sunday, the coach's hand stood out. The changes in the last minutes, (Llorente, Vitolo, Correa in the center …) helped to burst Valverde's weak defense.

More links between the two? The two have been questioned this same season and the two are now within a shot of a title.