The duel between Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid wasn't only played on the pitch. The Xavi-Simeone rivalry continues its course from the sidelines.
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Both have shown respect for each other, but are light-years apart in their footballing philosophies. Every time they have the opportunity, they make their opinion of the other clear. Still, their personal relationship is exceptional, as they demonstrated last Sunday.
During one of the protests from both coaches towards the fourth official, Simeone gave the key to get Xavi to stop questioning the refereeing decisions: 'You have to caution him or he won't shut up,' joked the Argentine coach about the Barcelona manager with a half-smile, as captured by the images from 'El Día Después' on Movistar+.
'This guy just won't shut up even if you tried,' Cholo ended up saying. A phrase that even drew a smile from Xavi himself. The man from Terrassa took his colleague's comments with humor and continued protesting: 'Well, in the end, he didn't give it...', referring to a yellow card for an Atlético Madrid player.
Xavi won the duel against Simeone again. In 24 matches with Atlético de Madrid, the Argentine has only managed to win twice against Barcelona. Xavi, in his four encounters, knows only victory. Cholo is confident that the situation will eventually turn around: 'Someday we'll have our moment here, it already happened once with that draw that gave us LaLiga. One day it will happen.'
Updated: 03:33, 5 Dec 2023
