Simeone Dismisses Superstition Ahead of Champions League Clash
Diego Simeone walked into London with a narrative already written for him: superstition, omens, ghosts of a 4-0 thrashing. He tore it up with a grin.
“The hotel was cheaper. That’s why we changed.”
No lucky charms. No rituals. Just a manager who has built a decade-long empire at Atletico Madrid on edge, detail and defiance, not on the colour of the carpet in a London lobby.
Simeone shrugs off superstition
Atleti are back in the capital with the Champions League semi-final delicately poised at 1-1 after the first leg in Madrid. In October, they stayed at the Marriott Hotel in Regents Park and were dismantled 4-0 by Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal in the league phase. Same city, same opponent, same competition. Different hotel.
This time, the squad have decamped to the five-star Courthouse Hotel in Shoreditch, east London, a switch that instantly sparked talk of Simeone trying to dodge bad luck.
He didn’t flinch when the question came. He smiled, cut through the narrative and pointed straight at the balance sheet. No mystique. Just money.
That is Simeone in microcosm. Others talk about vibes; he talks about margins.
Alvarez ready to return to centre stage
The real calculation for him lies on the pitch, and there the numbers are far more compelling than any hotel invoice. Julian Alvarez, scorer from the spot and standout performer in the first leg, has travelled and is expected to start at the Emirates Stadium after shaking off an injury scare.
The former Manchester City forward, who Simeone has openly admitted is admired by Arsenal, limped out of the first leg and missed the 2-0 win at Valencia at the weekend. Losing him for the return would have ripped a hole through Atleti’s attacking plan.
Alvarez has 20 goals this season for Atletico. Twenty reasons Simeone pushed to get him on the plane. Twenty reasons Arsenal will feel a familiar unease when they see him in the tunnel.
“Julian Alvarez is important in this game because he knows the English league very well,” Simeone said. “He played really well last week, and I hope he can bring what he needs in the game tomorrow.”
He knows the grounds, the tempo, the tackles. He knows the noise. That matters on nights like this.
Calm, not chaos
Simeone sounded almost reflective as he mapped out the emotional landscape of a tie like this. The stakes are enormous, but he talked about patience, control, the need to ride the chaos rather than fuel it.
“As coaches, we have to think about what could happen but it is down to the players,” he said. “We have to manage our emotions and play as well as possible. The game changes as soon as it kicks off. Over time, you do become patient. It is not about being passive, but calm, and that is what we need in this type of game.”
For a man whose touchline persona has often been pure electricity, the distinction is telling. Not passive. Never that. But calm enough to pick the right moment to press, to foul, to break, to bite.
Arsenal saw both sides of Atletico in the first leg: vulnerable in the first half, snarling and relentless in the second. Simeone wants the second version from the first whistle in north London.
Griezmann’s last shot at Europe
Hovering over all of this is the figure of Antoine Griezmann. The numbers alone are staggering: 212 goals in 494 appearances for Atletico. The story behind them is richer still – the comebacks, the reinvention, the return.
Now comes the possible final chapter on this stage.
The 35-year-old Frenchman, still without a Champions League title on his CV, is set to join Major League Soccer side Orlando City at the end of the season. If Atletico fall to Arsenal, this could be his last night under the bright lights of Europe’s biggest competition.
He refused to indulge in sentiment.
“It is not something I am thinking about,” Griezmann said. “I am looking forward to the game tomorrow, it will be a great contest to be part of, and I hope we can have the right attitude and play with the right pressure and build on our second-half performance from the first leg.”
He knows exactly what is at stake, though. He always has. From the moment he first heard that anthem as a young forward, the image has been the same.
“Every time we start a Champions League campaign you can see yourself lifting the trophy, and any child in their bedroom would do the same,” he added. “We are just two games away now and we have to get it right, tactically defensively and going forward, and of course we need more goals than Arsenal.”
Two games from the trophy. Or one game from the end.
Atletico arrive in London with a cheaper hotel, a fit centre-forward and a legend chasing one last shot at the only prize that has eluded him. Superstition has nothing to do with it now. The next 90 minutes will decide whether this group writes itself into club folklore or watches the curtain fall on a golden era with the Champions League still just out of reach.
