Simeone reveals his son's involvement in his decision to coach Atletico Madrid LaLiga Argentine spoke to The Coaches' Voice

Diego Simeone has extended his legacy at Atletico Madrid by becoming their head coach and leading them to glory, most notably winning LaLiga Santander in 2013/14, but he was originally unsure about taking charge of Los Rojiblancos.

However, it was his youngest son who managed to persuade Simeone to take the reins at Atleti and, as they say, the rest is history.

Simeone took part in The Coaches' Voice, where he was interviewed about his career and also wrote a piece on their website.

"My youngest son, Giuliano, dipped his croissant in his milk, took a bite and looked up at me," his letter began.

"He said, 'But Dad, if you do well, you won't come back.'

"I remember that day so well. It was the one that brought the phone call that changed everything.

"The call from Atletico Madrid, saying they wanted to speak to me. The one about me becoming head coach of the club.

"At the time, I was in Mar del Plata - a beach town in Argentina - to spend a few days with Giuliano. He was just eight years old, and we were sitting in a bar with our croissants and coffee (for me, milk for him), when I told him: 'Look, a chance has come to go to Atletico Madrid and I don't know what to do.'

"Giuliano thought about it. He responded: 'Are you going to manage [Radamel] Falcao? Are you going to play against [Lionel] Messi? Against [Cristiano] Ronaldo?'

"The kid was saying all this to me. And I would say yes. And in between dipping the croissant in the milk, he said those words: "Dad, if you do well, you won't come back."

"There are two sides to that, of course. On the one hand it's lucky, because I want to do well. But on the other hand it's unlucky, because I don't get to see my kids growing up.

"I was 27 or 28 years old when I really decided I would become a head coach. I would go home from training - I played for Lazio then - grab a folder and pretend I was taking a training session.

"You know the way kids imagine things, when they are playing? I would do the same as an adult, playing at being a head coach. I used my team and pictured myself taking parts of training. I imagined the next match and planned out everything I needed.

"By the end of the day I'd be surrounded by sheets of paper, each one covered with drawings or notes. I liked to write everything down.

"Doing all of these things started to generate a lot of enthusiasm in me.

"As a coach, the greatest passion you can have is for improving players. Of course, becoming champions is something we all want, but I think that the best 'championship' for a head coach is to see players like Koke, Lucas Hernandez, Angel Correa - lads who have come up from all the way down in the lower divisions - become professionals of a high standard."

Read the whole piece here on The Coaches' Voice: https://www.coachesvoice.com/atletico-madrid-diego-simeone-antoine-griezmann-la-liga/.