Diego Simeone made headlines by not shaking Jurgen Klopp’s hand last night and there are three more cases when the coach found himself in the middle of a storm while in Italy.
After Atletico Madrid’s 3-2 loss against Liverpool last night, the Argentinean coach refused to shake Klopp’s hand.
“I don’t always greet (the other manager) after the game because I don’t like it,” Simeone explained after the game.
“It’s not healthy for either the winner or the loser. I think of it that way. But now, when I see him, I’ll greet him without a problem.”
Klopp didn’t seem to be bothered by Simeone’s snub.
“The situation is clear, I wanted to shake his hand and he didn’t want to. His reaction was for sure not right and mine was not too good as well,” he told Sky Sport.
“But we are both emotional so when we see each other next time we will shake hands definitely and it’s like nothing happened.
“He was obviously angry not with me, but with the game, the world and it’s nothing else.”
Simeone is known for his hot temper, as a player and as a coach.
The 51-year-old spent a big part of his playing career in Italy at Pisa, Inter and Lazio.
The former midfielder played 178 games in Italy’s top flight.
Back in 1998, just a few weeks after winning the UEFA Cup with Inter, he was involved in one of the biggest controversies of the 1998 World Cup when he got David Beckham sent off in the Round of 16.
The former Manchester United star saw red for kicking out at Simeone who later admitted he had tried to get Beckham sent off by over-reacting.
Just a few years later, in April 2001, Simeone made a questionable celebration after a Rome derby.
Diego 'Cholo' Simeone celebrating some Lazio success pic.twitter.com/SjP1d8Bb4d
— VintageFooty (@VintageFooty) January 25, 2015
At that time, he was a Lazio midfielder, and it’s not difficult to understand why Roma fans were not pleased by his celebration.
Simeone repeated a similar gesture in 2019 when, as the Atletico Madrid coach, celebrated the Colchoneros’ 2-0 win against Juventus.
He later explained that he didn’t mean to be disrespectful, but his celebration did not bring luck to his teams in both cases.
Roma won the Serie A title in 2001, while Juventus eliminated Atletico Madrid from the Champions League with a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick in the reverse fixture in Turin.
Twitter loves Simeone's X-rated celebration after Atletico goal against Juve pic.twitter.com/82SccMsxBv
— Marianna Neville (@MariannaNevill2) February 21, 2019
Why is Football Italia reporting as if they was an English newspaper and reporting in a pro English style? This is an Italian football website!
he played most his career on italian league and he is lazio and inter legend. his strong personality always on media attention back on the day. no wonder they keep tracking his coaching career even he coach on spain.
If I was Simeone, I’d have also headed down the tunnel after that farce. Griezmann only looking at the ball and a tall firmino slightly crouching down…completely accidental contact. Not intending to danger the opponent…max a yellow card. Ibra did almost exactly the same thing in the game vs porto, even drew blood and got a yellow. And then, they get a deserved pen whilst playing with 10 men…only for the referee to somehow change his decision. Utter farce.
He is a small man. Always was. Making rude gestures from the sidelines, refusing shake hands. Guy is a narcissist for sure and I dont wanna hear “he has to be that way” not he doesnt – there are plenty of real men, gentlemen in this game.
Simeone never shake hand after final whistle, right? I had seen that (rush to tunnel) in La Liga before.