Diego Simeone
Catania was a real learning curve. I grew amid difficulties. In terms of courage and ideas, a lot about my Atleti comes from Italy.Collection: Courage
Football is like hunting. One second can change it all, but it's not just any second, it's a flash. The prey is there and suddenly then it's not. In an instant it's over - you won't have the chance again. You need to know which one precise second to train for, and to understand that moment.Collection: Chance
I do not listen to criticism or flattery, one weakens you and the other angers you.Collection: Anger
Psychology is important but motivation is something that if you don't have it inside then you can't provide it.
I'm a believer that emotions can move mountains, that spirit alone can trump budgets.
I think talk is cheap - when I hear people say what they'd like to happen, I think it's empty.
My role is to take the player to his limits, to provoke him, to annoy him against me, because in this nervousness is the will to improve.
Football is wonderful because no one is right: there's no absolute truth.
I was 27 or 28 years old when I really decided I would become a manager. I would go home from training at Lazio, grab a folder and pretend I was taking a training session. You know the way kids imagine things, when they are playing? I would do the same as an adult, playing at being a manager.
Whether you like Mourinho's style or not is open to discussion but he has won in different places and this has a lot of merit.
There is no such thing as revenge in football, or in life for that matter, just new opportunities.
I don't drive a truck, I drive a team of footballers who work for a major club like Atleti.
Football is everything, mind, heart, talent.
Of course, becoming champions is something we all want, but I think that the best 'championship' for a manager is to see players like Koke, Lucas Hernandez, Angel Correa - lads who have come up from all the way down in the lower divisions - become professionals of a high standard.
Finding myself in a final with Atletico makes me happy. Why? Because I know the feelings of all the people at the club - because I know how the players feel. They need to see their team as champions, so we have more fans every day.
I relate football with boxing, with a street fight. In both cases there is always one moment, a second, in which someone shows fear in their eyes, in their body. In football it's exactly the same.
It's not enough to just have talent at Atletico Madrid. At other clubs it is, but we can't sign superstars and have to look for players with a good work ethic.
As a coach, the greatest passion you can have is for improving players.
If there is one thing I am, it is very hard-headed. If I want something, I go after it - and I go after it ad nauseum.
It's difficult to get ready to face a player like Cristiano Ronaldo. He's a goal animal.
A coach I admire? Jurgen Klopp. No doubt.
It is always good and important that the strikers score.
Football is like boxing because you have to know when it is time to attack.
We play to win, with the arms that we have.
I'm very happy in charge at Atletico. The squad give me commitment, talent and style.
The only improvement I know in football is through work, it is the only way for the team to grow.
When the opposition team sense that there is fear, they take advantage without mercy.
Maybe the key aspect of imposing fear to the opposition is to make them understand that we have no fear.
Geminis are aggressive, changeable, intense.
I like brave people.
The characteristics of people according to their star sign are similar, and we pay attention to how we can get the best out of them.
Busquets reads everything. Players like Busquets or Xabi Alonso in midfield have the capacity to read the whole game.
Heart can cancel out budget.
I would never close the door on any job because I like to work, I like football.
I would never close the door on coaching in Mexico.
Football is not just in Europe, there is football all over the world so I am always open to the idea of managing anywhere in the world.
Liga MX is a great environment, the fans are very enthusiastic.
In football you need to look to make life difficult for the opponent.
The first time I played England was at Wembley in 1991.
Whether you win or lose against English teams, you always feel it's been a proper contest.
It's hard for me to interact with players who don't give themselves completely. The weak don't interest me.
We want to be the team that no one can stand to play.
The game's my life and I'm so passionate about it. When you see your life so intertwined with football it can make things very difficult. You might go and watch a film and start imagining footballers running across the screen, you know?
Talent has to be accompanied by effort as well, and that's shared around when you work as a team.
With any possibly erroneous decision, you can always look back and think you could've done something differently - but always with the benefit of hindsight.
With me, what you see is what you get.
If I had to chose between Messi and Ronaldo, then most likely I would choose Messi.
When coaches arrive at a club, we need to understand its history. If we don't understand it, then we are destined to have a bad time.
From the first moment you accept to join a club, the best thing you can do and the most respectful thing to do is ask yourself: 'What is the history behind this club?'
Ajax have a set model, a defined youth programme - Barcelona have one too, and Juventus. And Atletico Madrid do too. Real Madrid don't - because they alternate developing their own players with signing talent.