On the day their respective squads played, Diego Simeone and Marcelo Bielsa paid their respects in the same manner to Maradona.
Both Diego Simeone and Marcelo Bielsa spoke about the impact Diego Maradona had throughout his life. The Atletico Madrid manager was his teammate when they crossed paths in Sevilla and Bielsa enjoyed his return to the First Division in Argentina during the ‘90s.
As two of their country’s most important figures in today’s football, they wanted to pay respect to the late football legend. As everybody does at the start of any game this week, we often see a minute of silence in memory of a recently deceased person. However, Marcelo Bielsa and Diego Simeone made the decision to applaud instead of remaining quiet.
They both feel Maradona deserves to be celebrated for his football more than anything else. While Marcelo did it right before the Everton vs Leeds United kick-off. Diego Simeone right before the Valencia vs Atletico Madrid match with spirited applause throughout the whole minute.
Simeone revealed he always wanted to be Maradona.
After the match, Diego Simeone spoke to the press to explain the reason behind the way he paid respect to Maradona.
Simeone said the following after the game: “The pain is massive. Everybody can see what all Argentineans feel beyond the good or bad things that happened in the country for Diego. But as I said during the press conference. I was born with every kid’s dream that was my age to someday be like Maradona. We used to go to the square or the local pitch thinking we all wanted to play like him. Obviously, none of us could do it but I think saying goodbye with great applause was very important.”
As far as Bielsa goes, he revealed that the whole country of Argentina is feeling terrible at the moment for the loss of their biggest idol. Two worthy farewells for a legend from two important figures in Argentine football.
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