What Arne Slot warned Diego Simeone after fiery clash ahead of Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid
Liverpool are set to face Atletico Madrid in their first Champions League game of the season, as they aim to get off to a winning start.
The Reds will be hoping for a better campaign in the Champions League, having not progressed past the round of 16 since they reached the final in 2022.
Liverpool are favourites to win the competition after a summer of heavy spending, but they will encounter a lot of elite European teams.
Arne Slot will come up against Diego Simeone at Anfield, and this will reignite an old feud between the Liverpool boss and the Argentinian.
Arne Slot had confrontation with Diego Simeone in 2021
Shortly after Slot joined Feyenoord, his side faced Simeone’s Atletico Madrid in a friendly in 2021, except it was anything but amicable.
After the game, Simeone and Slot got involved in a confrontation which saw the Atletico manager shove the Dutchman, in a heated encounter.
“At that moment, at the end of the match, I turned to Simeone to tell him how passionate he was even in a friendly match,” Slot recounted in 2023.
| Stat | Simeone |
| Matches | 4 |
| Wins | 2 |
| Draws | 0 |
| Losses | 2 |
“Then, he misinterpreted the smile I had at that moment and pushed me. This says a lot about him, how easily he gets irritated and frustrated. It doesn’t matter who he is in front of, he is like that, I don’t think he has anything against me.”
Despite the confrontation appearing dead and buried years later, Simeone reportedly claimed that Slot warned him after their last meeting in 2023, which Atletico won 3-1.
“After our match against Feyenoord back in 2023, he said, We’ll play again, and the scoreline won’t be pretty,” Simeone reportedly stated of Slot.
Arne Slot now has better team than Diego Simeone
In their previous encounters, Slot came up against Simeone with a much lower budget and an inferior squad, but this is no longer the case.
Simeone is missing several key Atletico players, including Julian Alvarez, and this is a good chance for Slot to get his revenge on the long-serving Argentine coach.
The Atletico Madrid manager won at Anfield in 2020 as his side knocked Jurgen Klopp’s title-winning team out of the Champions League, and Liverpool fans would love a reverse result to kick off their campaign this season.
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