THE EURO FILES: Champions League draw opens up for Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid eight years after European final heartbreak, it could be Kylian Mbappe’s time to shine… and Barcelona’s talent factory is still going strong

As Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone celebrated his side’s epic victory over Inter Milan on Wednesday evening, there were mud stains on the knees of his trousers.

He doesn’t have to worry about the dry cleaning bill ahead of Sunday’s match against Barcelona because, as evidenced by the six-part Amazon documentary made about him in 2022, he has a whole wardrobe full of identical black suits.

He is incredibly superstitious and you wouldn’t be against seeing him don the cleaned suit again from Wednesday for the rest of a Champions League competition that has now opened nicely for him to reach the final.

The man in black has been the highest-earning coach in Europe for most of his 12 years at Atletico. The argument that he is not worth it has always hit the same stone: he earns the club much more than they have to pay him.

Atletico, defeated in the 2016 Champions League final, have won 81 European Cup games, 50 of them under Simeone. Only three coaches have won more European Cup games at the same club: Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United (102), Arsène Wenger at Arsenal (83) and Pep Guardiola at Manchester City (56).

The win over Inter earned Atletico another €10 million, and unless his team loses both quarter-final matches against Borussia Dortmund, and Barcelona wins both quarter-final matches against PSG, it will be Atletico and not Barça who play in the Club of 2025. World Cup, which earned another 50 million euros for Atletico.

You can dislike his football – even if the old style of ‘score one and defend’ is long gone – and the celebration of a goal that he takes in the crotch every now and then may offend some. But his performances at Atletico cannot be questioned.

He was also right to complain for so long about the away goals rule, which, had it not been scrapped, would have seen his team defeated on Wednesday.

That victory on penalties corresponds to his greatest goals. And perhaps its genesis came four days earlier, when his team lost 2-0 to third-placed bottom Cadiz, who had not won in their previous 23 matches.

That loss put Simeone in his favored territory – if no one gave his team many chances before, because they were playing against an Inter team that had won twelve out of twelve in 2024, then the matter was declared hopeless after the defeat.

No one has mastered the art of exploiting underdog status better, and Atletico produced a phoenix from the ashes.

His 32-year-old captain Koke, who was average for most of the season, ran 17.5 km and set up the two goals. Antoine Griezmann returned after missing three games through injury to score the opener, and substitute Memphis Depay scored his first Champions League goal in four years.

Simeone was stretched out in his technical area as Atletico missed a chance after 90 minutes. But you can’t keep it in for long!

Is it Mbappe’s time to shine?

Euros Files’ bold (okay, not so bold) prediction that the Champions League will have a winner for the first time this season continues to hold, as three teams are yet to triumph in the last eight and have not yet drawn.

Luis Enrique who brings his team from Paris Saint-Germain to Barcelona, ​​together with Real Madrid against Manchester City, is the favorite.

The Spanish coach won the Champions League in 2015 when he had the best player in the world at his disposal.

There were arguments with Lionel Messi along the way, but they embraced in Berlin as Barca defeated Juventus in the final. In Kylian Mbappe, Enrique once again has the best player in the world at his disposal, and there has been some friction with him this season. Let’s see if it ends the same way it did in 2015.

The draw everyone wanted – almost

Real Madrid did not want Manchester City to participate in Friday’s draw, much less the second leg away from the Santiago Bernabeu, where they feel invincible.

But when Manchester City director Txiki Begiristain joked to Spanish TV ‘que pesado!’ (what a drag!) When asked about the prospect of having to play Real Madrid again, it perfectly illustrated that they didn’t want the Spaniards either.

A downside for City is that Madrid can rest the weekend before the first leg, because there are no league matches due to the Spanish Cup final. On the plus side for Pep Guardiola’s team, if Vinicius, Jude Bellingham, Eduardo Camavinga or Aurelien Tchouameni get yellow in that first match, they will miss the second leg.

Barcelona’s talent factory is still going strong

Iker Casillas tells the story of how, as a 16-year-old in 1997, he was sitting at his school desk when Real Madrid officials came knocking on the classroom door.

They needed him to fly to Norway, where the club had a goalkeeping crisis due to injuries to Bodo Illgner and Santi Canizares.

Casillas was on the bench as Madrid lost 2-0 to Rosenborg.

Barcelona had a 16-year-old on the pitch on Tuesday night as Lamine Yamal shone in the win over Napoli.

His young teammate Pau Cubarsi is not much older.

The centre-back only turned 17 in January and was man of the match in his Champions League debut.

Cubarsi was Victor Osimhen’s boss for 90 minutes and three days later he was called up to the Spanish team for the first time.

When Barcelona hit financial rock bottom, staff were banned from color printing, their club’s television channel was closed, and the Camp Nou pitch was rented out for stag and hen party kickabouts, among other desperate measures; their opponents were quick with the ‘where is your famous La Masia youth system now!’

But ultimately, their ability to produce brilliant young people is the one thing that has never failed. Thanks to the children, they are back in the top eight in Europe for the first time in four years.