Simeone and Burgos, the perfect society ended in silence and with old wounds that are reopened today

“I’m very hot. It’s a team that looks for two steps forward and one that takes two or three steps back. “This is the difference that makes Real Madrid win.”

He Burgos monkey He hit his old partner where it hurts, the Cholo Simeone. He defined it as defensive, that nickname that the successful coach has been fighting for years, after Atlético Madrid’s elimination against its historic rival for the Spanish Super Cup underway in Saudi Arabia. And the ten years we spent together? The statement dusted off old ghosts and opened questions. Why did you leave me? Did Burgos really want to follow his path or was there a difference in “football ideology” within the coaching staff? Why didn’t they talk more?

The fact is that in this society there were other times. Is happy. On March 11, 2020 the Cholo Diego Simeone and the Sandwich German Adrián Ramón Burgos They melted into an embrace. It happened after Atlético Madrid’s epic victory at Anfield against Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool, the last Champions League champion. “A strong hug, like the one we gave each other when we won the first championship. We owe the third to ourselves when we become champions of the Champions League,” the former goalkeeper predicted.

But the one at Anfield would be the last hug that the successful couple would give each other. At that point, Burgos had already decided to separate from Simeone. And Orejona’s dream would once again be cut short. A few months later, in August, Aleti was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the European competition and the final journey of the winning couple began.

To the aid of Atlético

In 2010, when Quique Sánchez Flores won the UEFA Europa League and the European Super Cup with Atlético de Madrid, the coach said that Colchonero would not experience a similar situation again for decades: “This will not happen again in 40 years”.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. The fact is that, one year later, the day Diego Pablo Simeone, Aleti’s prodigal son, landed at Barajas airport with Germán Adrián Ramón Burgos. And, since his arrival, Colchonero’s mentality would change forever. It would stop being Spain’s “suffering team” to become a very tough rival for any European team.

In Spain they compare Cholo’s arrival at Atlético with what happened when Johan Cruyff took over the technical direction of Barcelona. Yes, the good life in Catalonia began before Guardiola.

The ten years of Simeone and Burgos in Madrid were the period of glory for Atlético and also for that club: 8 titlesIncluded two Spanish championships, one Copa del Rey, one Spanish Super Cup, two European Championships and two European Super Cups.

With Simeone as the beacon of lightning and a silent Burgos, despite its eccentric profile, Atlético has become the third team without discussion in Spain and a permanent protagonist in Europe. They qualified for 9 Champions Leagues in a row in those first 10 years (including two narrowly missed finals) and the club’s coffers are full of euros.

What was Burgos’ role in Simeone’s teams? “I built bridges,” explained the Monkey. “It was the balance of building bonds in any case. A little, that’s what I’ve always done. Even when I was a player.”

The budget change was notable. Of the one hundred million annual budget, Simeone achieved the resources to manage a staff of five hundred people. Furthermore, the old Vicente Calderón became obsolete and Atlético built a new stadium: the modern Metropolitano, which changes its name depending on the highest bidder.

The 2013-2014 season may have been the crest of the wave. Simeone explodes the Colombian Falcao and is sold for 60 million. But he succeeded and brought in a David Villa who he had no place in Barcelona to replace him. They won the first championship of their management and made history at Champios. He eliminated Milan in the round of 16, in the quarterfinals against Barcelona with Messi, Neymar, Xavi and Iniesta. And then they eliminated Chelsea.

The final was the one that ended in a 4-1 victory for Real Madrid after winning 1-0. But the path to the final had been inexorable: Simeone’s team had arrived undefeated, with 9 wins, three draws and the least encountered obstacle.

Ten years after arriving in Madrid in December 2011, when Burgos he decided to start his own path he understood that he had given added value to his role as “second man”.“: “What I have never seen is that a second coach is fired with a painting, with a t-shirt, with the team applauding… Yes, first, but I had farewell…”, he says proud Burgos.

I left as a legend“he told the AS newspaper with satisfaction.

Since that farewell in 2021, Simeone and Burgos have never spoken to each other again. El Mono tells it like this: “I don’t need to talk to a friend. The day I need him, I know I can call him.”

But distance attracts attention. El Mono is the great absentee in the documentary on the life of Diego Simeone. El Cholo also appears in Netflix’s David Beckham biopic, but his right hand hasn’t appeared in his hand for ten years.

When Mono was asked why he didn’t participate in the Cholo docu-reality, he had an elegant exit: “They invited me to participate in the documentary but I couldn’t do it, I was at Newell’s “And with all this Covid issue I decided to postpone, I had no intention of forcing any situation that could compromise the team by putting people in the club who could break that bubble, playing every 48 hours and with 12-hour flights, I had to avoid the risk .”

What did Simeone say? Press silence. As happens in rock bands, the frontman doesn’t talk about the guitarist after the separation. It happened with Cerati and the other Sodas. Or with Indio Solari who didn’t mention Skay for years after the dissolution of Redondo. In this case, Cholo does not mourn his guitarist. Even if they ask them to “get back together”.

The rocky road of Burgos and the reinvention of Simeone

The separate paths of Simeone and Burgos were very different. Although, if Cholo has been criticized for his lack of calm on the bench, the former goalkeeper is no different.

Let’s start with the Monkey. Your first experience post-Cholo (He had previously coached lowly Real Caranbanchel and achieved promotion to Spain’s Third League) It happened at Newell’s Old Boys of Rosario.

On the day of his debut, the Monkey left several notes of color and showed his “few fleas” as a director. To begin with, she protested every failure of Loustau’s umpiring: “They are all missing. There are five of them now, they won’t let the attack continue, old boy“.

Then he argued with the young Sforza, “why are you trampling on him, you’ve already lost two balls!”, don’t worry. You’re talking a lot. Leave it to me otherwise there are two voices. “You’re here to help me.”

“You’re right, mister”, the Spaniard responded submissively, but in the second half Burgos went to the bench: “Who goes to the area? You’re not paying attention, Armando, my mother’s pussy. Who goes to the area? “I told him that the two of them are too young to go to that area.”

From Burgos to Newell’s the step was fleeting. Fifteen games in which he scored 40 percent of the points and at the end of the season he continued on his path.

The next stop was the Aris Thessaloniki of Greece where he did better, although he was sacked after 19 games: “We had a championship, we took 70% of the points (N. de la R: he actually took 66%) but they didn’t wait for us”, he said later.

In those months, while he was selling himself as technical director, some juicy definitions of Burgos appeared that seem to distance him from the tactical animal that is Simeone.

El Mono said he composed the teams based on the signs of the zodiac. “I like to analyze how players relate. I always have a relationship with Aries, Pisces and Taurus. Cholo (Simeone) is Taurus. It is with them that I have the greatest friendships,” he said.

Cholo’s situation at Atlético without Burgos hasn’t changed much. As soon as El Mono slammed the door, Cholo reassembled his coaching staff. He gave way to another former teammate of the Argentine national team who already had experience as a main coach: Nelson David Vivas, who arrived some time earlier. Furthermore, he added former Independiente supporter Gustavo López.

In the post-pandemic period, it was starting to seem that Simeone’s days at Atlético might be over. However, the coach reinvented himself and after an overwhelming first part of the Champions League (he was the leader of his group with a 6-0 victory over Celtic included), the Atlético management renewed his contract until 2027 .

If his contract expires, Simeone will complete 15 years as manager of Atlético de Madrid. A record, which is currently surpassed only by the German Franck Schmidt who arrived in Heidenheim in 2007 and promoted it from fourth to second category.

Burgos’ statements after Atlético’s elimination in the semi-final of the Spanish Super Cup against Real reopened the wounds. “I’m very excited. It’s a team that takes two steps forward and one that takes two or three steps back. This is the difference that makes Real Madrid win,” said the Monkey, as if removing the plug from a discussion that took place outside the doors. closed countless times.

It could also explain the turning point it gave to his career. And faced with Simeone’s silence, the official explanation for the divorce is the one given to Burgos himself: “If you tell your players to be brave, you have to be brave first and foremost. Leaving was a courageous gesture.. And because I wanted to become a head coach,” he told AS.

They owe each other a hug. And according to the now DT they will give it to him when they meet again on a football field: “We have friendship, we will give each other another hug”. Although he clarifies that they will not share the bench: “They will be rivals.”