Giuliano Simeone has earned his place on the wing for Atlético Madrid, despite natural reservations given his father, Diego Simeone, is the club's manager. The youngest son of the legendary coach has had to prove himself every step of the way, but he is now making the most of his opportunity at the Metropolitano.
A Father-Son Journey at Atlético
At the beginning of the final training session before their biggest game in a decade, Atlético Madrid's players lined up by the centre circle and waited for their coach. Diego Simeone arrived and ran through the middle of them, from Juan Musso and Jan Oblak at one end to Antoine Griezmann and Ademola Lookman at the other. As he passed, head down, they cheered and hit him — a traditional gauntlet run. It was his 56th birthday.
Simeone has spent almost 20 years at Atlético: first as the captain who won the double, then as the coach who lifted the club's next league title 18 years later. Now, he leads them into his fourth European Cup semi-final, nine years since the last. "You can't imagine how good it is to be in the four best teams in Europe," he said after the quarter-final. "I have no birthday wish," he added before the semi-final, "just pure gratitude to be able to be with my three sons on my birthday, with my two daughters, my mum, my wife, my lifelong friends."
Giuliano's Path to the First Team
One of those sons, Giuliano, was hidden in the crowd hitting him. When Simeone bade farewell to the Vicente Calderón as a player in December 2004, he carried two-year-old Giuliano in his arms. Fourteen years later, Giuliano's dad is still the coach, and now Giuliano is a player for the club.
Born in Italy in December 2002, Giuliano grew up in Argentina with his elder brothers, Giovanni and Gianluca. They visited their father often, and he visited them. Football was their shared passion. During celebrations after Atlético's 2012 Europa League title, Simeone was caught on camera excitedly talking on the phone: "And did you see Falcao's goal?!" On the other end was Giuliano. As a ballboy, Giuliano was invariably by the bench, and his father sometimes told him to slow down if they were winning.
Giuliano left River Plate's academy at 16 to join Atlético's youth system, living with his dad. When he turned 18, Simeone Sr kicked him out, saying it was time to be a man. Now, his dad is his manager and his hero, Antoine Griezmann, is his teammate.
Overcoming Doubts and Injuries
Giuliano admitted that at times it feels strange, wondering what others might think. When he was younger, people said he played because he was his father's son. "I try to isolate myself from that. I know I won't be gifted anything," he said. Simeone Sr once said there was no way he would sign his son because of the baggage it would bring. But that was about Gio, not Giuliano, and Atlético didn't sign him; he was just another academy kid trying to prove himself.
Loaned to Zaragoza and then Alavés, Giuliano broke an ankle in 2023. His father immediately went to his bedside, but the doubts about his career were not limited to the injury. There was a reluctance in Simeone to open a pathway for his son. However, Giuliano opened it himself with determination. He used to be a centre-forward, but his grandfather said the wing would make him. Now, he tears up the touchline with relentless energy. Alavés's then-coach, Luis García, said: "That Simeone... bloody hell. He runs for 90 minutes without stopping. He's a pain. He makes something out of nothing at any moment."
Earning His Place
"I see a player, not a son," Simeone says. He has been careful not to talk effusively about his son, even when he has done so for other players. When Giuliano came back from loan, he started only one of the opening 11 games. But when given a chance, he grabbed it and never let go. Now, there are no doubts — just a player worth every minute he gets. Giuliano has a tattoo of the date he made his Atlético debut. "They are the team of my life," he says. At the club shop, the No 20 shirt comes with "Giuliano" on the back, not "Simeone". But that's his dad, and on his birthday, he had everything he would wish for.
