On Saturday night, Diego Simeone surpassed Luis Aragonés to become the Atlético de Madrid coach with the most matches in charge of the first team.
It was his 613th game as Atleti boss and one of his most enjoyable, as Los Colchoneros thrashed Sevilla FC 6-1 at an electric Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano. The 52-year-old even produced one of the biggest smiles in all his years coaching the club, and that was thanks to Antoine Griezmann.
When the Frenchman blasted a left-footed shot into the top corner of Sevilla FC's goal to make it 3-1 early in the second half, he pointed to and ran straight over to Simeone, celebrating with the man who has been his coach, mentor and friend for so many years. After sharing a hug, Simeone couldn't stop smiling, and for good reason. Griezmann is playing some of the best football of his career.
Discussing that moment after the game, the player said: "Since it was an important day for him, it was an important day for me. I really wanted this game to be magical for him, for the fans and for my teammates. This was my best game since I've returned. I'm doing very well and feel very happy. I owe everything to the coach, the fans and my teammates. I'm enjoying myself a lot and trying to help my teammates have fun too."
Griezmann is in truly sensational form and is arguably the best performer so far in the 2022/23 LaLiga Santander season. His super strike against Sevilla FC was his eighth goal of the league campaign, but he is also proving key to Atlético de Madrid's build-up play and has provided eight assists so far, which is the most of all players in the division and just one fewer than his personal best for a league season.
How Simeone has extracted the best from Griezmann
Since returning to the capital in the summer of 2021, and especially since his move back to Atleti was confirmed as permanent in October 2022, the 31-year-old has been in special form. He showed that in Qatar as he helped France reach the World Cup final with his performances from midfield, a role he started playing under Simeone.
In the months since the World Cup, Griezmann has continued to occupy a deeper role, playing behind either Álvaro Morata, Ángel Correa or Memphis Depay, the January signing who the No.8 played a perfect through ball to for the opening goal of Saturday's 6-1 win. It seems that everything Griezmann touches right now is turning to gold and that makes sense, since El Cholo understands this special footballer better than anybody else.
Simeone was the one who converted him from a dangerous wide forward to a lethal striker when the Frenchman made the move from Real Sociedad to Atlético de Madrid in 2014. It was under Simeone's tutelage that Griezmann finished third in the Ballon d'Or voting of 2016 and 2018, winning the World Cup in Russia as an Atleti player too. After that 4-2 win over Croatia in the final, the first message Griezmann sent when he picked up his phone in the France dressing room was to Simeone. "Me achieving this is thanks to you," he wrote to the Argentine.
Now, they are achieving wins together once again. Of Simeone's 613 matches as Atlético de Madrid coach, he has won 359 of them. 327 of those matches and 149 of those victories have come with Antoine Griezmann on the field. Given the way the French superstar is playing, those numbers are only going to go up.
