Facing Diego Simeone 13 years on, José Mourinho brought a print-out and paranoia. Some things don’t change. Some people don’t, either
There were many questions to emerge from the Madrid derby, which Atlético won 2-1 in front of 70,514 very, very noisy people at the Metropolitano on Sunday afternoon, even if not the one José Mourinho was asking. Like: what year is this? Or: what was Dean Huijsen thinking? Why always Arda? And whatever happened to Vinícius Júnior? How come Koke is still the best? And how long before Giuliano Simeone actually bursts, his atlético insides exploding across the pitch? Above all though, you were left wondering: where did Real Madrid’s manager get a printer from? And how did he get the bloody thing to work?
You could still hear the singing outside when Mourinho turned up in the press room, laid down his glasses and sat. In his hand was a piece of paper. Thirteen years after his last derby, on the Santiago Bernabéu night when Madrid lost the Copa del Rey final and a 13-year unbeaten run against their neighbours, Diego Simeone had defeated him again. The stage was new – this stadium didn’t exist then – but his adversary was somehow still the same man, still dressed in black, and the scene was a bit like old times, a classic. Mourinho unfolded the paper and held it up. “We can save ourselves the bother of the press conference,” he said, “because the story is right here.”
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