Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid meet again in an exciting Copa del Rey semi-finals tie. Carlo Ancelotti will have the chance to get revenge on Diego Simeone, who defeated Los Blancos’ manager in the Italian Coppa a few years ago.
It was in 2000. At that time, Simeone was playing at Lazio and Ancelotti was in charge of Juventus, where Zinedine Zidane was the star. Both teams met in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Juventus earned a 3-2 victory in the first leg. However, that advantage seemed short, given the Bianconeri good performance in the match. Ancelotti’s men were leading 3-0 at half-time –one of the goals being scored by Zidane– but in the second they relaxed too much allowing Lazio to score twice. Simeone played all 90 minutes in that game.
The second leg match was thrilling. Lazio took the lead, but Juventus equalised before half-time. However, when the game was about to end, Simeone took centre stage as the man embitter Ancelotti. The Argentinian made it 2-1 and gave Lazio the ticket for the semi-finals.
Lazio and Simeone, who ended up winning a double that season as they conquered the Scudetto and the Coppa titles, upset Ancelotti’s Juve again in the Serie A. Once again, a goal scored by the Argentinian gave the Romans a 0-1 victory in the 28th matchday of the league.
When Ancelotti arrived at Milan, he somehow took revenge for that, knocking Lazio out of the 2002 Coppa. However, Simeone was injured and didn’t feature in that tie. Thus, the Italian might seek for a complete vengeance in this Copa del Rey.
