Ahora tú, Cholo
Written by Ruairidh Barlow
You might have missed it in amongst the torrent of content coming out of Argentina’s World Cup win, often wholesome, with portions of amusement and a considerable percentage of absolute madness. For once, arguably the largest villain in football management was responsible for the former. It was just four seconds, but the video of Diego Simeone looking teary after Gonzalo Montiel’s World Cup-winning penalty is as tender as he’s been seen in public. Watching on with innocent wonder, an ill-fitting shoe for his normally rocky face, Simeone looked a little like the victim of a body-swap film.
It was probably something to do with the fact that Argentina had just won the World Cup for the first time since he was 16. Understandable. There is a minute chance though, that it was the face of a man who had finally seen it. In front of him were the performances Atlético Madrid needed when they signed Rodrigo de Paul and Nahuel Molina.
Both, in theory, are perfect for Los Colchoneros. There was plenty of Simeone’s understanding of football in Lionel Scaloni’s interpretation. Arguably, de Paul and Molina’s best performances of their career can be traced back to the Albiceleste.
Seemingly always off balance, Molina permanently finds himself in the right place a second too late in a red and white shirt. De Paul is… more enigmatic. At times, he reminds you just how good he is. More often, you find yourself watching a replay wondering exactly where he was or what he was thinking.
Scaloni might have Lionel Messi at his disposal, but he did ask all the right questions of the Atleti duo. Molina is less speculative, providing width and playing quickly. Perhaps not always winning his battle, but he rarely lost it. Part of the problem might be that the Cívitas Metropolitano has never seen de Paul run quite like that. At the very least, de Paul plays with the game in front of him for Argentina, with options always ahead of him. Too often in Madrid he is rebel without cause, or finds himself not participating at all.
Having seen what they can do, and how they can do it, Simeone’s task is to ensure they enjoy the same level mental security and clarity in La Liga. That may well be made harder by the potential for a World Cup hangover, particularly for de Paul (there are few sights more Argentinian than de Paul with a cut off bottle as his fernet chalice). If there is one thing that as a rule you could rely on Simeone to do though, it was to extract the most from his players. To motivate them, to make them sweat bullets and play with a knife between their teeth. Atleti’s Argentine pair have that in their character. Now Cholo must find a way to wring it out of them.