Gerardo Martino, Simeone Offer Clash Of Styles

[Folami David]

Barcelona's Gerardo Martino has an added incentive to get one over Atletico Madrid's Diego Simeone when their teams clash in the Spanish Super Cup first leg on Wednesday after an incident on the pitch 25 years ago.
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In an interview with Argentine television, Simeone recalled a match at the end of the 1980s when he was a raw teenager with Velez Sarsfield and Martino played for Newell's Old Boys.
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"In reality, I didn't get him sent off but it looked like it," Simeone, 43, told the Estudio Futbol programme last month.
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"I fell over in the middle of the pitch, without meaning to. I got a yellow card and Martino a red. As I was still naive, I got another yellow soon after, and was also sent off."
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Velez won 2-1.
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The contrasting approach of the Argentine midfielders - Simeone's ball-winning industry against Martino's creativity - is reflected in the way their current teams play.
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Champions Barcelona head to the Calderon as favourites after a 7-0 rout of Levante in their La Liga opener on Sunday, while King's Cup holders Atletico were boosted by a 3-1 victory at Sevilla - wins that were achieved in markedly different styles.
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"(Atletico) are a very intense side, they are comfortable without possession of the ball and they are very direct," Martino told a news conference on Tuesday.
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"Atletico are very solid because of the way they play, they keep it going for 90 minutes and they are winners. It is an extremely tough test."

[Shola Sholaz]

He has the set of players that can make his job easier so I don't think he can have much of a problem this season...