Simeone set to equal Luis Aragonés record at Atlético Madrid helm

A total of 4,432 days have passed since Diego Simeone oversaw his first game in charge of Atlético - against Málaga at La Rosaleda, on 7 January 2012. This afternoon’s visit today to the Santiago Bernabéu will be his 39th derby - and that won’t be the only milestone that El Cholo will reach today. Against the team he has faced the most, Simeone will equal Luis Aragonés’s club record as the coach with the most matches in charge of Atlético Madrid: 612.

El Sabio de Hortaleza reached that figure in four different spells. But Simeone will do it in one. Undoubtedly, two of the greatest figures in the club’s history, combining their successes on the bench with their brilliant spells as players. No one, not even Simeone himself, could have imagined in Málaga what he was to come. More than eleven years and eight titles on, the Argentinean is still going strong as the most successful coach in Atlético’s history. It’s even more impressive when you consider that Atleti went through 11 coaches in the 11 years prior to Simeone taking the reins.

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Two Leagues, two Europa Leagues, two European Super Cups, one Copa del Rey (lifted at the Santiago Bernabéu to end a 13-year run without beating Real Madrid) and the Spanish Super Cup - the silverware which Simeone has delivered in little over a decade. Today, at the Bernabéu, Simeone will also surpass Miguel Muñoz as the coach to have overseen the most games for the same club in the Spanish top flight (425).

Luis won six trophies in his 612 games in charge of the team, who scored a total of 1000 goals. El Cholo’s Atleti would need to score three today to match it. However, this Atlético conceded 223 fewer. Simeone and Luis Aragonés, two of the most important figures in Atlético, if not the most important, who today share a position on the Mount Olympus summit of Atlético coaches. Surely El Sabio would have wanted it that way.