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Soccer

Simeone's "outright mistake" and Ancelotti's place in the pantheon

Mirroring the 1974 European Cup final, Atletico Madrid's heart was again broken in injury time. A...



Simeone's "outright mi...
Soccer

Simeone's "outright mistake" and Ancelotti's place in the pantheon

Mirroring the 1974 European Cup final, Atletico Madrid's heart was again broken in injury time.

Atletico's small squad eventually ran out of steam on Saturday night as Real Madrid completed the long-awaited Decima - or 10th European title.

Tonight we were joined by Graham Hunter to review that historic All-Madrid decider.

On Thursday, Graham had warned that starting with the clearly unfit Diego Costa was a risk too far for Atletico's threadbare squad and so it proved on Saturday as he lasted fewer than 10 minutes.

Graham was surprised that manager Diego Simeone made the decision to start with the Spain international.

"He made an outright mistake. I think it was a mistake that was hard to understand. He came right out after the final and said 'I made the decision, it's gone spectacularly wrong and I take the blame,'" said Graham, who wondered whether the "sheen of invincibility" towards his own players may have been smudged slightly by that glaring error to play Costa.

Meanwhile, Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti has equaled Bob Paisley's record of winning the European Cup/Champions League three times as a manager. That would surely give him a garlanded place on the list of managerial greats, especially with the fact that Real is a place perceived to be riven by some of the broadest egos in football.

"He's such a humble and sympathetic man that it's easy to overlook him. I have this impression that there are oodles and oodles left in Carlo Ancelotti. I look now at some of his competitors and I see Mourinho who felt for the last seasons like a man who was in love with politics and in love with getting his way, but not necessarily in love with football. I think that will pass but I think the appetite that made him one of the greats had been replaced by relatively dark forces," said Graham, who also contrasted Ancelotti with Pep Guardiola and Alex Ferguson's recent periods of management.   

Graham tipped Ancelotti to continue winning major trophies and he also discussed whether Atletico will now be asset-stripped by Europe's rich clubs.

Graham also touched on Cristiano Ronaldo's bare-chested celebration and the avalanche of criticism that followed.

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