“People accepted it well because beyond the fact that the fans of the Inter and the Lazio They have a good relationship, he was a very loved person from day one for his genius and his charisma. She was a serious and very professional person, so she couldn’t say absolutely anything,” he recalls. Faisal Bensiamar Ben Akbil about the arrival to his team of one of the executioners of the Roman club in the final of the 1998 UEFA.
“In the hall of this hotel he kicked a ball for the first time Giovannitoday champion of Scudetto with the Naples“I played here very often,” continues the concierge of the luxurious hotel Majestic in which Simeone He would live during his first month and a half as a Lazio player until he was able to find a house in the residential area of Olgiataa few minutes from Formellothe Sports City in which The cholo He would also win over his teammates from the moment he first set foot in the locker room.
“He was a player born to be a leader, his teammates followed him, they always took his advice into account,” supports an entire Lazio institution like Maurizio Manzinithe historical Team Manager for several decades, without his 82 years distorting one bit the memory that Simeone’s passing left in his memory.
Each one from his place, one acting as a guardian angel in his private life and another being the link between the leaders and the Lazio footballers, they were exception witnesses how El Cholo won the hearts of the entire celestial part of Rome in the same way that he conquered red-and-white Madrid.
First of all, football
Faisal, 23 years after Simeone was the epicenter of Lazio that would go down in history for winning a Scudetto that would never be lifted again, a Italian Cupa Super Cup national and another from Europe in the same season, he also remembers as if it were today what the current Atlético coach’s priorities were while he was staying at the hotel where he worked. “I didn’t have much time to find a house in RomaHe came to dinner and went to bed, he was very professional. He was always a very discreet person and although he was of few words, as he had a lot of affection from people, he always stopped, he did not mind stopping to sign autographs and he greeted everyone when he went out into the street. But, above all, he was very polite, respectful and attentive to all the staff,” recalls a janitor who also appealed to his sense of responsibility to restrain himself and comment with El Cholo on the day-to-day life of his team.
He didn’t have much time to find a house, he came to dinner and went to bed, he was very professional. He was discreet, but he always stood with people
FAISAL, EX-CONCIERGE OF THE MAJESTIC HOTEL
Far from it being a pose, when Simeone surrounded himself with the Marchegiani, Almeyda, Sensini, Nesta, Nevded, Salas and company, continued to provide the perfect climate for the team to function like a pineapple. “He was extremely generous, the team leader, a very good company in situations of great difficulty and he was always thinking about the team before himself,” recalls Manzini after a lifetime of watching hundreds of footballers pass through the booth. .
He was extremely generous, the team leader, a very good company for situations of great difficulty and always thinking about the team.
MAURIZIO MANCINI, EXTEAM MANAGER OF LAZIO
Engine inside and out
With thousands of experiences behind him after his long career as a club employee, Manzini was no stranger to what the moments before winning the Double had been like when Simeone banged on the doors of his teammates’ rooms while they were taking a nap so that they could They were plugging in and thinking about what was to come. “I had that same attitude here,” he recalls, pointing out one of the keys to the competitive nature of the team led by Eriksson.
Faisal, who once the seven or eight weeks in which he helped the Argentine’s adaptation to Rome had passed, would never lose his trust, also x-rayed Cholo from his perspective as a Lazio fan. “You could already see that he never liked to lose, just like now as a coach. And I no longer tell you in the derbies against Roma, in the season those two games were vital,” he recalls, remembering the character that his former guest had. “By the way he behaved on the field, in training, in games and in the locker room, you already They saw ways for him to be the great coach he has become,” adds Manzini.
‘One of them’
Although his first steps in Italy would be in Pisa after emerging in Velezto grow up in the Sevillabecome an Atlético legend and continue winning titles in the Inter, Simeone would still be able to win the affection of one more fan. “He has always been a person who respected the shirt he wore and who honored it, that is very important for the fans, because when you give everything for that shield, they respect you. It was a delirium to see Simeone play,” says Faisal enthusiastically.
“The fans identified with him because of the way he gave himself on the pitch, they loved him,” confirms Manzini who also does not forget that Simeone’s competitive and fighting gene was also what allowed him to get out of his worst moment as a footballer. Lazio, when he tore his meniscus and cruciate ligament with the 2002 Japan World Cup around the corner: “Your recipe for arriving on time with Argentina It was simple: a lot of work, a lot of application and a lot of passion.” Pure Simeone.
Return to the cradle of Cholismo
If you go back to Olympic and meeting Lazio again represents a return home for Simeone, in a red and white key and from the coach’s point of view it also constitutes a feeling of happiness, since it is the return to the origin of Cholism. Same scenario and same rival of the first goal, the first victory and the first European tie that would culminate in the conquest of the title that inaugurated the record of the most glorious era that Atlético de Madrid has experienced in its 120 years of history.
A goal of Adrian and two of Falcao They would serve to reverse the initial of Klose in Simeone’s seventh game in charge of Atlético de Madrid. It would be the first of the 123 in which El Cholo would leave an indelible mark on the continent, starting with the Europa League lifted to heaven months later, followed by the two European Super Cups that would add to the showcases and nights of Champions with two disputed finals included, beyond the sad outcome
A starting signal, in short, to the 68 continental victories (55%) that contemplate the journey of Atlético del Cholo, with 26 draws (21%) and the only 29 defeats (23.6%)
A until then run among the aristocracy of the Old Continent in which the goal bears the predominant signature of Griezmann, who has scored 32 goals, for the. 15 of Diego Costa14 Saul and 13 Falcao. However, if there is someone who has not abandoned Simeone on this path, it is none other than Immediatelywho after 112 appearances, has only stopped participating in 11 duels, which will be 12 tomorrow.
2023-09-18 04:19:51
#Simeone #leader #earned #respect #honoring #shirt
