Simeone Deepens Controversy and Attempts to Portray Ceballos and Ancelotti

Diego Simeone's press conference ahead of the Champions League clash against Bayer Leverkusen at the Metropolitano was once again overshadowed by the ongoing controversy surrounding refereeing decisions at the Santiago Bernabéu.

The day after the controversial cup match between Real Madrid and Celta, where the Galician team claimed two unawarded penalties and Endrick's expulsion, Simeone was questioned. Despite not watching the match, he referred to "episodes at the Bernabéu that shouldn't surprise anyone as they've been happening for a hundred years."

Both Carlo Ancelotti and Dani Ceballos responded, suggesting that Simeone is still hurt by the two Champions League finals lost to their eternal rivals. On Monday, the Atlético coach was asked about these comments in the first question of his press conference. His response, appealing to memory, quickly went viral.

"I never comment on what my colleagues think; I simply refer to memory. When they were in other teams, they thought differently," Cholo recalled with an ironic smile, referencing past statements by both the former Betis midfielder and the former Bayern Munich coach after controversial losses at the Bernabéu.

In this vein, some past messages have resurfaced on social media where Ceballos, ironically, criticized Real Madrid and supported Simeone's Atlético. "Here are the first three points for Cholo," he wrote in 2012. "I'm for Atleti!" he replied to another fan asking which team he supported. "Falcao has played a total of four finals and not only scored in all, but won them. Let the Vikings tremble," he commented before the Copa final that Atlético won in 2013 at the Bernabéu. "Atleti, eoeoee. Is Casillas going to lift the Cup? Ronaldo is shameless and Mourinho the same. Disgusting Madrid," Ceballos commented.

Ceballos once experienced "episodes" that Simeone referred to. "I'm quite upset with this match; everyone saw the refereeing," he commented in March 2017. "On Wednesday and today, we leave upset with the referee; Betis deserves the same treatment as other clubs in Spain," he remarked after a controversial match against Real Madrid. "Mistakes always in the same direction are tiring," he added.

Ancelotti has also been the subject of numerous messages reminding him of his experiences when he was Bayern's coach and was controversially eliminated from the Champions League. "The decisions penalized us a lot. Vidal's red card wasn't justified, and both of Cristiano's goals were offside. In the quarter-finals, you need a referee with more quality. Either that, or it's time to use video because there are too many mistakes at this stage," he said in 2018, the year Real Madrid won their thirteenth title.