Kieran Trippier shares what Diego Simeone used to tell Atletico’s players before facing Liverpool

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Kieran Trippier has shared some of the underhand tactics that Diego Simeone would ask of his players whenever they played against Liverpool.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live during last night’s Champions League coverage, Trippier gave an account of the Atletico Madrid manager’s instructions for playing The Reds.

“When we used to play Liverpool and Chelsea, he used to say get in their faces, wind them up, run up to the referee,” said Trippier.

“All the things that you see them doing in the last game, with Vrsaljko and Grealish, and pulling his hair, these are the things that they do.”

Trippier says that as well as the antics originating from Simeone, the Atletico players are also keen to take that approach too.

“It comes from the players themselves but the manager is one of those, he does it himself, he’s asking for a yellow from minute one if there’s a tackle,” he said.

“That’s what he wants, in the dressing room before the game, he wants you to get in the opposition player’s faces and wind players up. Not the hair pulling, but if one of the players get tackles, he wants you to get around the ref and just get in other players faces.”

Lovely.

Good riddance to bad football

It could be argued that Simeone’s tactics are still working to some degree. Atletico are currently the La Liga champions after all. They also very nearly pipped Manchester City to a spot in the Champions League semi-final last night.

When it comes to Liverpool though, it looks like Jurgen Klopp and his team have finally managed to learn how to deal with the so called ‘dark arts.’

In the two games between the teams earlier this season, Liverpool remained unruffled as Atletico lost their heads.

A sending off in both the game at the Wanda Metropolitano and back at Anfield put Simeone’s team on the back-foot. In truth though, Liverpool would likely have won without the extra man advantage on both occasions.

It’s always interesting to see another brand of football, that’s what the Champions League is all about. However, the play-acting and time-wasting that Simeone loves to employ can be a real grind to watch.

Although their defeat last night leaves the dreaded possibility of facing City in the final in Paris, at least we don’t have to sit through another 90 minutes of the Diego Simeone show against The Reds.

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