Diego Pablo Simeone completed 600 matches as Atlético de Madrid coach
Our coach played his 600th official match in charge of the Red & White bench against CD Arenteiro. At 52 years of age, he is just 12 games away from equalling Luis Aragonés as the coach who has coached the most games in the club's history.
On the 11th anniversary of his arrival, Diego Pablo Simeone continues to make history match by match. The Argentinian coach landed as Atlético de Madrid coach on 23 December 2011 and this Thursday, against CD Arenteiro, 600 games in the Red & White technical area.
"We are the ones who have to commit ourselves and work, without talking so much and with facts, which is what counts," explained Simeone in his first statements as Red & White coach. History has more than vouched for the Argentinian coach's words. His debut as Atlético de Madrid coach dates back to 7 January 2012 against Málaga CF at La Rosaleda. The rest is history.
Under Simeone's guidance, our club achieved glory on as many as eight occasions: one Copa del Rey, one Spanish Super Cup, two UEFA Europa League, two European Super Cups and two LaLiga titles. In addition to the titles won, our club has always finished in the top three in the ten full seasons under his command, two of them as champions.
That has meant that Atlético de Madrid has played in the UEFA Champions League for nine consecutive seasons. Likewise, our club has reached the quarter-finals of the continental competition on six occasions, twice reaching the final, surpassing the records prior to Diego Pablo Simeone's arrival.
The numbers speak for themselves. After the win against CD Arenteiro in the Copa del Rey, Simeone has 351 wins, 140 draws and 109 defeats in 600 matches. That's 58.5% of wins out of the total number of games under his management, surpassing the 50.3% achieved by Luis Aragones as coach. Furthermore, under Simeone our club has scored 979 goals - 1.63 goals per game - and conceded an average of just 0.78 goals per game - 469 goals in total.
These achievements and statistics place Diego Pablo Simeone as the second coach to have coached the most games in the club's history. Only another Atlético legend, Luis Aragonés, with 612 games in the dugout, surpasses this record. In fact, Luis has accumulated 982 games as a player and coach in the history of Atlético de Madrid to the 772 that the Argentine has achieved. The next challenge for our coach.
Congratulations, Simeone! Atleti's history is made match by match.
