Simeone and the TV series on Amazon: “I owe a lot to Italy, I could go back”

Excited and almost moved, happy, witty. Diego Pablo Simeone presented in Madrid the series dedicated to him by Prime Video entitled “Simeone. Vivir partido a partido”, as from his famous slogan which has become a way of understanding life and “cholismo”. There are 6 episodes and the documentary, available in 200 countries from 25 January, will obviously also be broadcast in Italy.

ITALY IN THE HEART

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“A country of which I have wonderful memories – said the Atletico coach -. I arrived there when I was very young and I learned a lot. In football I had been well prepared by the school of Carlos Bilardo, who had trained me in Argentina and who he had already explained to me what different I would find in Italy, but I have grown a lot as a man, as a person. I like Italy a lot: the people, life, football, which in recent years has grown a lot and will continue to do so. It is a place where there are great teams and where I have left great memories, and as a category we are always available: we are coaches and we know that beyond the fact that today I am very happy and I feel very good where I am and I am not I want to go from where I am, as I have already said everything has an ending, everything ends “. The doors of Italy to the ‘Cholo’ are always open: it will only be necessary to understand when.

STARS AND PASSION

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The series is attended by a large number of football giants, rivals, friends, former teammates: from Beckham to Ronaldo, from CR7 to Messi, to Sergio Ramos, and so on. “Everyone gave me something, everyone contributed to building who I am today. I am the fruit of my journey, made up of victories and defeats, but above all of passion. Without passion there is nothing, in football and in life “.

FAMILY AND FEELINGS

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And then of course there are the family members: the ‘viejo’, Carlos, the father, “Who has a character similar to mine, reserved”. And mother Nilda: “Who always smiles and talks to everyone, I don’t know how he does it, I struggle …”. The children: the footballers Giovanni, the ‘Cholito’ of Verona, Gianluca ‘el buffalo’ now at Ibiza in the second Spanish league, and Giuliano, who is with his father at Atletico. And then the girls, Francesca and Valentina: “The first is 26 years old, the little one is 3, and between all 5 there is a great relationship. We have managed to rebuild a large family nucleus based on union, and it’s wonderful. , I wasn’t thinking of a new family, but then Carla came into my life and we did. ”Sincere emotion, like when talking about the scene he liked most from the series he mentions a chat with his father in front of the house, Madrid. Authentic feelings that the ‘Cholo’ guarantees to be present in the documentary. “I got naked, I am very reserved”.

THE “DIEZ” OF DIEGO

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Two anecdotes. The first almost 30 years ago: “1991: Maradona had left the national team and ‘Coco’ Basile did not know who to give the ‘diez’. We were already in retreat for the Copa America and on the bus he approaches me and asks me if I feel it. “Who, me? La Diez? Claro que si!”. I was 21 and I felt strong and capable of walking through rocks, I was not afraid of anything. I took it, I wore it with pride and we won twice the tournament”.

ONE MATCH AT A TIME

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The second serves to explain the philosophy of ‘partido a partido’, one match at a time. “When was he born? When we arrived at Atletico in 2011. In the contract it was written that they would renew it for me only if we arrived in the top 3, not even 4 huh? Atletico were thirteenth at -14 from third place. I told the executives: if we start thinking about winning here and there, we’re not going anywhere. Let’s just focus on the next game, and then the next one. One at a time. And so it was “. Atletico, which was only +4 on relegation, closed in fifth place but won the Europa League, the first of the 8 titles won by Simeone with the Colchoneros.

THE TARGET

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Among these, two Liga: “With Atletico I won a Liga as a player in 1996. Then it took us 18 years to win the championship. And then another 7. This is not a club like Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bayern, Juventus where winning is a habit. It is much more difficult. Here, now we hope to take less than 7 years to get back to winning the La Liga “. But always going ‘partido a partido’. Good vision.