Diego Simeone basically yelled Atletico Madrid into the Champions League semifinals
Atletico Madrid are into the Champions League semifinals. And it's largely due to Diego Simeone's yelling.
Yes, Simeone is a brilliant manager. His tactics completely dismantled the Barcelona attack in the quarterfinals and neutered the most lethal front three in the world. His players did an incredible job too. You can't say enough about Antoine Griezmann's skill, Saul's passing, Diego Godin's defending and Gabi's leadership. It was all terrific.
But this is about Simeone's yelling. So let's go back to the round of 16.
There, Atletico Madrid couldn't muster a goal against PSV in 120 minutes. Or in 150 minutes. Luckily, their defense was stout and didn't conceded so Atleti's impotency in front of net didn't kill them. The two teams went to penalty kicks, where, all of a sudden, neither team could miss.
Seven rounds through, everyone had scored. And Juanfran kicked off the eight round of tries with a goal. The match was on PSV's Luciano Narsingh's foot and that is when Simeone turned to the crowd, waved his arms and yelled at them to get louder.
The fans responded to Simeone. The Calderon, already one of the most raucous venues in European soccer, became a madhouse and Narsingh was done for. His shot hit the bar and came off. He had missed and Atletico were going to the quarterfinals. Simeone's yelling had worked.
And then came the match-up with Barcelona. We skip to the last 20 minutes, with Atletico leading and needing to keep Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar from scoring to advance. That is basically a no-win scenario and no defense could stand up to that. Not with their European lives on the line.
So once again, Simeone turned cheerleader. He yelled at the crowd to get louder and louder. Once again, they responded. The Calderon went nuts.
And what did Atletico Madrid do? They held on.
It took some help from the referee (and yes, he also hurt Atletico Madrid earlier), but the deafening noise could have certainly influenced his decision to not whistle Simeone's team for a late penalty kick. Or maybe not. The important thing is Atletico survived.
Simeone's yelling had worked again.
Frankly, it's no surprise that Atletico Madrid won and Simeone's chearleading had helped. He is as terrifying as he is inspirational and defying him is to to risk his fury.
So you can praise Griezmann's two goals. Or the pressing. Or the tactics. Or the last ditch tackles. But really, praise Simeone's screaming.
Atletico Madrid aren't here without Simeone's yelling. And that's only kind of a joke.
