Simeone and the blue card received by FIFA: Cholo’s lapidary comment on his inclusion in football

Diego Simeonecoach of Atletico Madridsaid this Saturday that the possible inclusion of a blue card in matches to send off players for ten minutes who commit tactical fouls or protest The International Football Association Board, which will meet in March, plans to study the referee’s decisions.

The commotion that arose after the version that emerged in the arbitration environment was such that the FIFA was forced to issue a statement in which he clarified that, although his discussion is on the agenda of the next meeting on March 2, the information that emerged was “incorrect and premature”.

In his contact with the press before the duel between Atlético de Madrid and Sevilla, Cholo expressed himself in this sense: “I will not wear myself out thinking about this situation because it will end in nothing”, said the Argentine, with few fleas, without even expressing his opinion on the proposal that will be evaluated at the IFAB summit.

Like Cholo, Jürgen Klopp (Liverpool), Mauricio Pochettino (Chelsea) and Mikel Arteta (Arsenal) also expressed their rejection of the blue card in some way.

The hardest in the concepts was the German, who has reached the end of his cycle in Liverpool and never shows coldness in his assessments: “It doesn’t seem like a fantastic idea. But the truth is that I don’t know.” I don’t remember the last time: “These people (the IFAB) had a fantastic idea, if they ever had one,” he declared.

Mauricio Pochettino, Chelsea manager, also joins in the criticism: “At the moment it’s not a good idea, but we’ll see what happens later, because it’s an opportunity to see how it works. My first feeling is that it’s very complicated because there are many questions.”

Arsenal’s Spanish manager, Mikel Arteta, also has doubts about this situation and said he doesn’t know if “they are prepared for this”. He added: “I hope they test it extensively before introducing it at this level.”

Simeone and the importance of the “mental”

Cholo thinks about the concrete, that is, the compromise position in which his team remains, still alive in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey, even if they have to overcome a 0-1 defeat in the rematch away against Athetic de Bilbao. . The fight in La Liga seems over, with Real Madrid and Girona cut at the top of the table, but they should not be overlooked if they want to qualify for the Champions League. So the coach spoke at length about the “mental” aspect of football.

“In reality the most important part is the mental one. Many of us sometimes think that when the team doesn’t respond it’s because the team was physically ill and there are a thousand factors that are not physical. They are emotional, mental, internal. come on, that they make you repeat your efforts. And there are moments when they are people, they are human beings (referring to the players), who obviously have moments of weakness”, he commented in front of journalists.

“We ourselves, as coaches, also go through those situations or phases in which there is a lot of sequence of matches. This is why we sometimes make a mistake in the formation or in the substitution. But we must always try to live with the bad moment. The more good, it’s in bad moments that you become stronger”, underlined Simeone after the morning training.

Between the mental and physical exhaustion appears the eighth match in 24 days, with the recent effort of the first leg of the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey last Wednesday against Bilbao and without a break for Atlético, who visits Sevilla at the Ramón stadium Sánchez Pizjuán.