Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone returns to the touchline on Wednesday night for his side’s Uefa Champions League game against Juventus at the Vicente Calderon.
Atletico and Juventus have never met, but the Turin side were great rivals of Simeone’s former club Inter Milan and Simeone understood what the “derby of Italy” meant to Inter fans.
He enjoyed an excellent record against Juve as a player in Serie A, with four wins and two draws from seven games, continuing when he returned as a coach for Catania in 2010/11.
Champions Juventus thought they had the measure of Simeone’s modest side, until they scored twice in the last nine minutes to rescue a draw.
Simeone’s feats make him an unpopular but respected figure among Juve fans, who expect him to complete his wish and return to Inter some day as manager.
First, though, Simeone needs to inspire his Atletico side again after completing an eight-match ban for his actions during the Spanish Super Cup in August.
Four of the games were for tapping the linesman on the head, with two more for protesting, one for applauding a sending off and another for remaining in the stadium.
Simeone apologised and has watched his side from behind glass with television cameras zooming into darkened executive boxes to see the suited Argentine celebrating in recent games.
The Spanish champions have not fared badly with their leader off the pitch.
Atletico are unbeaten in the league after six games and sit third, two points behind leaders Barcelona and two ahead of Real Madrid, whom they beat at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Their latest victory was their most impressive: a 4-0 rout of a Sevilla team who had been unbeaten in the league and were joint top with Barcelona.
Goals, largely, have not come easily for Atletico. They had scored only seven times in their opening five league games and do not have a striker in the top scorers’ chart at this stage of the season for the first time in a decade.
Diego Costa and David Villa departed in the close season and replacement Mario Mandzukic has a solitary league goal. The defender Miranda is their top scorer, with three.
Eight of Atletico’s 11 league goals this season have come from set pieces.
Mandzukic did score against Juventus in Bayern Munich’s 2-0 quarter-final victory over them in 2013 and he also scored in Atletico’s solitary defeat so far, at Olympiakos, in their opening Champions League match.
That surprise loss in a difficult Group A makes Wednesday’s game against the Italian champions important if they hope to progress to the knockout stages and beyond, as they did last season when they were a minute away from beating Real Madrid in the final.
Atletico have triumphed in 17 of their previous 19 European games at home and beat Juventus’ rivals 4-1 over two legs in the last 16 last season.
Juventus feature former Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata. French internationals Paul Pogba, Patrice Evra and Antoine Griezmann will line up on opposing sides.
Carlos Tevez is Juve’s top scorer, his double in Saturday’s 3-0 win at Atalanta making it six goals in the past four games. His two goals were enough to defeat in their opening Group A game.
The Turin club have won 12 successive league games since a defeat at Napoli in March and sit top of Serie A. They have become the first team to win their five opening matches without conceding a goal and with players of the calibre of Gianluigi Buffon, Arturo Vidal, Claudio Marchisio, Martin Caceres, Andrea Pirlo (a doubt with a hip problem), Giorgio Chiellini, Fernando Llorente and Pogba, Massimiliano Allegri’s side are capable of beating any team.
First, they need to improve upon their poor away form in Europe. Juve picked up one point in three away group games last season and have won only three times in 21 visits to Spain.
Simeone hopes his side can make things difficult for the Italian side again tonight.
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