Simeone, Trapattoni and 'tiki-taka'
Trapattoni has heaped praise on Simeone, because he's bored to tears of possession-based 'tiki-taka'* passing football. It's understandable - Trapattoni's style of football was the complete opposite. As a player, his speciality was marking the opposition's star players - which included players like Pelé, Charlton, Eusebio and Amancio. As a coach he developed the heavily-defensive based Catenaccio tactical philosophy. Some miss that style of football, particularly in Italy, where Simeone recently featured on the front cover of La Gazzetta with a caricature of him as Ché Guevara. Atlético's success is down to Simeone and 'tiki-taka'; for Luis Aragonés, Guardiola and Del Bosque, it was their downfall. That lends a certain special air to tomorrow's game in Munich. Some see it as the end of an era.
For me, the debate should centre around the players who the coach has at his disposal. A coach and his tactics can improve a set of players of lesser ability and allow the team to compete with a more competent side. That seems perfectly legitimate to me, it's also practical and desirable. But when a coach has the luxury of boasting a talented group of players and makes them play drab, conservative football, that constitutes a perversion of the idea in my view. There is no proof to show that playing miserly, dull football makes you win more than playing generous football. History shows that it's actually the other way around. You win more games with quality and attacking as a base. Check what the history books say if you don't believe me.
El Cholo doesn't have Cristiano or Messi, and seeing as he doesn't want his Atleti to be 'the third team in Spain' but rather primus inter pares (Latin: 'First among equals'), he has chosen to take the path he has taken. On that premise it's justified. However if he were to play that brand of football with squads of the calibre of Real Madrid, Barça and their ilk, it would be a sad state of affairs - just as it was when so many ‘trapattonis’ employed that style throughout Italy to the point of bringing ‘Calcio’ where all of the world's big stars played at one point, to its knees. So if Atlético go through to the final, something which obviously I would love to see happen, the one thing I won't be celebrating will be what some may see as a faux funeral for quality football. I'll be celebrating the fact that it shows there is an opportunity for those who aren't as rich as the rest.
*The phrase 'Tiki-taka' was coined by the late Spanish sports commentator André Montes, which he used to describe high possession, passing-based football.