The Supercopa de España is a bit of a shambolic mini-tournament in the middle of the Spanish domestic season. Since changing the format in 2020—prior to that date, Spain did the normal thing of pitting the winners of the league and the domestic cup against each other in a one-game preseason final, but now it is a four-team knockout between those two winners and the runners-up in their respective competitions—and moving the three matches to Saudi Arabia, the whole thing has become a glisteningly slimy exemplar of world soccer's insatiable greed (the same greed has threatened to move a La Liga match to the United States mid-season, though thankfully that has not happened ... yet). The tinpot nature of the Supercopa, however, does not rob it of all of its drama, and Thursday's Atlético Madrid vs. Real Madrid semifinal saw plenty of fireworks that had little to do with the match being played, thanks to the former's manager, Diego Simeone, and the latter's mercurial star, Vinícius Júnior.
During Thursday's match, with Vinícius hanging around Real's left wing—the side closer to the Atlético sideline—Simeone was caught talking shit in the Brazilian's direction. Cameras captured Simeone telling Vinicius that "Florentino [Pérez, Real Madrid's club president] is going to get rid of you, remember what I'm saying to you." (Vinícius's current contract ends in 2027, and talks about an extension have reportedly stalled amidst the winger's poor run of form, which now extends to 16 straight appearances without a goal.) What makes the comment especially diabolical is that it's a totally believable theory. The uncertain hierarchy within a locker room that includes superduperstars Vini, Jude Bellingham, and Kylian Mbappé surely plays some role in the team's struggles this season, and it's hardly a conspiracy to think that Pérez would quietly rejoice at the opportunity to sell the Brazilian for a massive fee, in doing so opening up more breathing room for the egos of Bellingham and Mbappé.
Vinícius appeared to shrug it off at first, laughing in Simeone's face, but towards the end of the verbal altercation, he did appear to get irritated over the whole thing. Nothing else of note really happened during the rest of Vinícius's time on the pitch, but once he was subbed off in the 81st minute, Simeone went at him again. As he walked off the pitch, the crowd in Jeddah started whistling Vinícius, and Simeone put his hand to his ear while jabbering in Vini's direction, seemingly telling him to listen to the fans, presumably implying that they'd turned against him as part of Pérez's plot to get rid of him. That finally broke the dam, as a clearly annoyed Vinícius fired some words back, and the whole thing escalated. Real manager Xabi Alonso left his technical area to try to break up the situation, telling Simeone "Cholo, just worry about your own," and complaining to the referee that Simeone should not talk to his players like that. Staff from both sides then got involved to separate the pair, and both Simeone and Vinícius received yellow cards.
After the game, Alonso made clear that he did not appreciate Simeone's antics, saying, "this type of thing crosses the line of respect for a fellow professional. I don’t like when anyone says things like that to my team-mates. I always try and show respect to the opposition players. Not everything goes." For his part, Simeone tried to downplay the incident in typical Simeone fashion, saying that he didn't remember what he said to Vinícius in the moment, commenting that "my memory is not great" and that he had nothing more to say: "Things that happen on the pitch stay on the pitch."
Vinícius and his team got the last laugh, though, as last year's La Liga runner-up won the match, 2-1, thanks to a thunderbolt Federico Valverde free kick in the second minute and a 55th-minute Rodrygo solo goal. Vinícius rubbed some salt in that wound on Instagram postgame, jumping into the comments of a Fabrizio Romano video about the altercation, saying "you've lost another knockout match," directed at Simeone, likely in reference to the two Champions League finals Simeone's Atleti lost to Real, in 2014 and 2016.
While trash talking is a normal part of any sport at almost every level, it's usually done between players and generally accepted, as long as a line isn't crossed. However, Simeone has always scoffed at any sort of norm, and so if there were ever going to be a manager that lands in hot water for shit-talking an opposing player, it's no shock that it would be him. To do that at all is ill-advised, but it feels especially silly to go after Vinícius during a match and a tournament that doesn't really matter all that much. (Doubly so when losing in said match.) This is just who Simeone is at this point, though, and with Atlético mired in fourth place domestically, seemingly already out of La Liga contention, his frustration might just have bubbled over at the wrong time. If the club's struggles continue, maybe Simeone's prediction about Vinícius will come true, but about Simeone himself; Atlético might just need to get rid of him to enter a new era.
