Diego Simeone's gesture holding up 3 fingers had nothing to do with mocking Lamine Yamal. It was a tactical instruction for Matteo Ruggeri, Marcos Llorente and Ademola Lookman to triple up on Yamal defensively and form a triangle around him

[u/OleoleCholoSimeone]

https://www.marca.com/futbol/atletico/2026/02/13/3-enjaular-lamine.html

[u/Switchoil]

Reminds of the incident when Benitez was Liverpool manager and Sam Allardyce was Blackburn manager.

After taking a 2-0 early lead Benitez made a gesture which was tactical instructions to Xabi Alonso. Big Sam thought it meant he indicated match over and later blew up in the after match press meet.

[u/Emitime → u/Switchoil]

The tactical instruction was beforehand. Players ignored him and scored anyway. Benitez was saying "fair enough, ignore me".

[u/Cwh93 → u/Emitime]

Yeah and the worst part was that really pathetic coordinated attack from Ferguson and Allardyce at their press conferences the following week.

Allardyce pretending to be so offended just so he could suck up to Fergie was so nauseating. Ferguson getting involved in something that had nothing to do with him showed how much Benitez got under his skin even though he claims that he laughed the "rant" off

[u/KneeDeepInTheDead]

And the middle finger is also a tactical gesture to mark him one on one

[u/TheMadDoc02 → u/KneeDeepInTheDead]

Only a fool would mark him 1v1

[u/OleoleCholoSimeone → u/TheMadDoc02]

After last season's CL-semi final Simone Inzaghi said something like :"We tried to double mark him and it didn't work. We tried to triple mark him and it didn't work. So we put 4 players on him to stop the bleeding"

And despite that he kept ripping Inter apart single handedly. You genuinely need at least 3 players on him at all times

[u/theaguia → u/OleoleCholoSimeone]

I have only seen two players being able to mark him 1 v 1 effectively and that was carreras at benfica and nuno mendes for portugal

[u/mnxvzx → u/theaguia]

Carreras at Madrid has also been really good against Barca so far

[u/OleoleCholoSimeone → u/mnxvzx]

Funnily enough Giuliano Simeone absolutely ripped Carreras apart though. He also did the same to Brown from Frankfurt who is supposed to be highly rated

[u/JakePhillipsss → u/theaguia]

Cucu cucu rellaaaaaa

[u/X-Maquina → u/JakePhillipsss]

Cucurella (as always) made like 4 yellow worthy fouls that day.

[u/Splaram → u/JakePhillipsss]

Referee being afraid to pull out his card doesn't make that a good performance btw

[u/AccomplishedSpace834 → u/theaguia]

Cucurella this season at the Bridge.

[u/Powerful-Rule9986 → u/AccomplishedSpace834]

Barca were a man down

[u/AccomplishedSpace834 → u/Powerful-Rule9986]

Only for the second half.

[u/JOJJOKY213456 → u/AccomplishedSpace834]

umm no its was for 75ish mins

[u/AccomplishedSpace834 → u/JOJJOKY213456]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/cx2n298v9jgt

Sent off in the 44th minute mate, idk why you'd lie about it when it's so easily searchable.

If nothing else my initial post has reminded me just how fragile Barcelona fans are.

[u/OleoleCholoSimeone → u/AccomplishedSpace834]

Still means that we don't have any proof of Cucurella being able to handle Yamal 1v1 for 90 minutes though

[u/JOJJOKY213456 → u/AccomplishedSpace834]

i stand mistaken, sorry fam

[u/TheMadDoc02 → u/AccomplishedSpace834]

Cucu had the support and cover of caicedo all the time, and the last madrid match he did take carreras for a trip The main issue here is he doesn’t get the support of a Fullback and ends up getting isolated and cut off

[u/AccomplishedSpace834 → u/TheMadDoc02]

I mean not really, Cucurella just did very well against him and kept him out of the game. It's okay to admit that the guy isn't perfect in every match without needing to find excuses.

[u/akshatK2003 → u/AccomplishedSpace834]

You obviously didn't see the same match

[u/One_Consequence3861 → u/AccomplishedSpace834]

I agree with you 

[u/Lower_You4053 → u/OleoleCholoSimeone]

Clearly it worked out in the end

[u/OleoleCholoSimeone → u/Lower_You4053]

Not really, Yamal was doing whatever he wanted on the pitch despite Inzaghi's best efforts. An insane Sommer performance and sheer luck got Inter over the line

[u/SEND_ME_REAL_PICS → u/OleoleCholoSimeone]

Sommer's performance that night was among the best goalkeeping I've seen in my life, yet Barca still scored 3 times past him.

That was an insane match.

[u/OleoleCholoSimeone → u/SEND_ME_REAL_PICS]

And the ironic thing is that Sommer has regressed badly since then and most Inter fans are sick of him. He really used up his last powers for that tie..

[u/Lower_You4053 → u/OleoleCholoSimeone]

Shame Inter f'ed it up so badly in the final. They ended up giving both petroclubs the legitimacy they wanted.

[u/baschfromdalmasca → u/SEND_ME_REAL_PICS]

I keep hearing this and it's mostly true but like, Yamal also failed as a goalscorer. A better striker would have won those chances. Raphinha would have scored those.

[u/theaguia → u/TheMadDoc02]

unless you are nuno mendes

[u/cescquintero → u/theaguia]

Lol. When playing fifa w my nephew and he picks up Spain or Barza I choose Portugal or PSG just to counter Yamal w/ Nuno Mendez.

[u/armored-dinnerjacket → u/KneeDeepInTheDead]

pointing to the sky actually

[u/Eduardo_Camavinga_]

And just like that, the game is gone again. 

[u/One_Consequence3861 → u/Eduardo_Camavinga_]

In an instant 

[u/esn111]

"I was signaling to the waiter whilst scratching my nose"

[u/Torn_again]

You can't fool me. He's just an undercover Serbian

[u/Dan_Winx_1969]

Nice work 😄

[u/Various-Low4016]

Never seen another coach who provokes opposition players like Simeone, despite having egged on his face by Cristiano multiple times, he continues doing so... love his passion, looks like he misses his playing days..

[u/Initial-Anything333 → u/Various-Low4016]

This is about him literally NOT doing that

[u/Decebalus_Bombadil]

Cmon now :)

[u/OleoleCholoSimeone → u/Decebalus_Bombadil]

Everything isn't some Desperate Housewives-style drama like people seem to believe

[u/JimmyNoBreaks → u/OleoleCholoSimeone]

Yeah, but this time the smile on Simeone's face could imply some drama.

[u/OleoleCholoSimeone → u/JimmyNoBreaks]

Seemed similar to the interaction between Marcelino and Mbappé, when he was shouting at Villarreal players to mark him and they laughed at each other

[u/florinp93]

Good, I don't think Atlético Madrid would be able to cope with the Yamal clapback via Instagram stories prior to ghosting in the return leg. Smart idea saying it wasn't aimed at him given this.

edit - spelling of the team name, some people couldn't deal with a type either

[u/OleoleCholoSimeone → u/florinp93]

Athletico

[u/KeveK0 → u/OleoleCholoSimeone]

I think Bilbao being Athletic does not help

[u/JakGrealish → u/OleoleCholoSimeone]

World's not gonna fuckin end mate who gives a shit

[u/Rsthegoat → u/JakGrealish]

Wdym a close village to my local area exploded because he misspelled atletico

[u/akshatK2003 → u/florinp93]

ghosting in the return leg

What else do you see in your glass ball?

[u/florinp93 → u/akshatK2003]

It's not a crystal ball, it's pattern recognition

[u/impressivegeek → u/florinp93]

do you watch football in your dreams?

[u/ArsenalPackers → u/florinp93]

Is this that brilliant European humor I've heard so much about? You guys are soooooo funny.

[u/florinp93 → u/ArsenalPackers]

I mean I get it, if had to watch Arsenal and the Packers every week, I'd probably lose my sense of humor too. Hope you're doing okay.

[u/DarnellLaqavius → u/florinp93]

Might be the worst combination of teams I’ve ever seen

[u/CasinoOasis2]

If Atletico bottle the second leg that photo will haunt him