El Mono Burgos, with an open heart: why doesn’t he talk to Simeone about his relapse into cigarettes despite having overcome cancer

German Adrian Ramon Burgos OR the monkey of Burgos, dry. character. After ten years that went down in history with Diego Simeone at Atlético de Madrid, the former goalkeeper who emerged from Ferro exploded into Fiume where he was champion of the 96 Copa Libertadores and saved to the Argentina national team in World Cup 1998 and 2002 he decided to make his way as a DT. The first experience was at Newell’s where it didn’t go so well: 15 games ahead, with four defeats, six draws, five defeats and a slammed goal. After crossed the Aris Thessaloniki in Greece where he won 12 of 18 games, but also had to walk away. The goalkeeper, the rock star, the man who defeated cancer and assembles his teams according to the signs of the players, gave an interview and left cuts everywhere.

Waiting for a new call to direct, Burgos told the Spanish sports outlet called Relevo Why haven’t you talked to Cholo Simeone in a while? With whom he spent a decade at Atlético de Madrid: “We are friends, we don’t need to talk if you are a true friend. It’s more than 20 years of friendship, including those eight years in the Argentina national team, four as a player and 10 as a coach. I gasp and you know what I’m saying. I like being in bad times.”

Despite working with a tactical animal like Cholo for years, Burgos revealed that the duo, too he relied on player markings to put together his own teams: “It’s the first thing I did. It was my idea. You need to look for the most compatible signs In a group, the leaders are similar, like Scorpio and Taurus, and you need a Pisces like Godín… Then you have to observe. To team up Menotti said they are small clubs of 2-3-4 players, sometimes solitary. You have the happy ones, the shy ones, those who think only of winning, others who are scared to the point of facing danger… There are those who bring a banana to those who ask for it, those who stay after dinner, or play cards, while travelling, where everyone sits down, who shares a room… Then we profile the person to find out what they can give you, and I hold on to the sign to know the emotional balance of the team, because I don’t have anything else to hold on to ” .

True to his style the Monkey said what is the difference between being the leader of the group and being an assistant coach: “You don’t make fun of second place and I want them to insult me, I like it (laughs). A goal. You learn that after 500 goals, even if you have to try not to get them scored on the same day… Why do goalkeepers continue for so many years, like Pepe Reina? Because then position counts, maybe you lose the gap in the legs, but you win it with position.”

In 2003, when he made a save for Atlético de Madrid, Germán Burgos had to quit football as he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. “It was something unexpected. They come one day and tell you: you have to have surgery because it’s cancer. I had to play against Mallorca that weekend and I said to the doctor: I’d better have an operation on Monday. But the doctors and Luis told me that I had to operate now and we decided to do it as quickly as possible and it was successful,” he said at the time. And that bad drink happened, Monkey, but the addiction twisted his arm and returned to the cigarette: “I continue to smoke, I returned because they are addictions, I cannot deny it. Less with this voice, which is a semitone lower than the devil”, he explained, after having had cancer.

Having gone through two world trials with the Argentine national team, the Monkey spoke about the title of Scaloni’s team and highlighted the work of DT Scaloni: “He was able to unite all wills and the first, Messi. He spoke to us several times. He is a capable, intelligent boy, he knows how to listen. When I saw this national team win three league titles in a row and how they celebrated in the qualifiers, when they all went to hug Scaloni, I said to myself: “he has them”. They protected him. This causes the player to run five meters further and play better. With that simple gesture you already realize that the players are with the coach. Sometimes, analyzing the goal celebrations, you can see how the group is doing”.