Diego Simeone's unique charisma pushing Atletico on in search of a miracle

The very next day, Simeone went within seconds of producing a football miracle. Had Atletico Madrid actually beaten Real Madrid to add the Champions League to their Spanish title, it would have been a feat to match any in the competition’s history, and surpass the vast majority of its victories.

There have arguably only been four such “miracles” since the European Cup was founded in 1955, when one side so sensationally defied the parameters of what should have been possible for them as a club; when one manager turned notional water-carriers into vintage wine.

The first was in 1967, when Celtic beat Internazionale in the Lisbon final. Much has been made of how Jock Stein’s entire team had been drawn from within 30 miles of Glasgow, but the constant repetition of a fact that seems impossible now has maybe obscured just how impressive Celtic’s achievement was at the time.

The influx of industrial money to Serie A created the so-called “lure of the lira” and saw Inter assemble the most expensive squad in history. The world-record £214,000 they paid for Luis Suarez in 1961 alone was five times more than the cost of the entire Celtic squad six years later. For all that modern reflections rate the game back then as egalitarian, that was a disparity to stand alongside any involving the modern clubs.

Just over a decade later, Brian Clough bridged that gap as well as another. It is a leap that has yet to be repeated. In the space of two years, Nottingham Forest went from their country’s second tier to the peak of continental football by winning the European Cup in 1979, before remarkably retaining it the very next season.

The foundation and nature of the modern Champions League has ensured the very act of defending the trophy - let alone coming to win it from nowhere - is exceptionally difficult, and makes what Ajax 1995 and Porto 2004 achieved all the more astounding.

In an era when football is so brutally conditioned by finance, they are the only clubs to have not been in the 15 wealthiest since 1992 to actually win the trophy, and were both financially far away from that elite. Atletico would have been the third, but it would have been just as notable because of the way a cabal of super-clubs have come to almost totally command the top level of the Champions League.

It is why, for anyone who values the vitality and variety of football, Sergio Ramos’s equaliser and Real’s eventual win was so frustrating. It prevented Simeone from replicating Clough.

The big difference with the Argentine, though, is that he still has such a strong chance to do it this season; that his team still looks so conspicuously formidable. That is just another illustration of his rare brilliance.

Consider the fate of other such surprise clubs to go so close, to narrowly lose a final. All of Partizan Belgrade 1967, Saint Etienne 1976 right up to Borussia Dortmund 2013 immediately saw their finest players sold and instantly struggled.

Atletico have so far weathered such asset-stripping to sustain a brilliant pace, all while revitalising the likes of Fernando Torres. They have barely stumbled, and must be considered among the favourites for this season’s Champions League.

It is alchemy, if not yet a miracle. The hugely questionable nature of Atletico’s finances perhaps removes some of the romance for them as a club, but not from Simeone’s actual job. Nor has it made his work any easier.

He has still defied huge disparities between his team and Spain’s elite two, temporarily turning Atletico into an elite team. It says much that it would be hard to see them getting anywhere close to that if he wasn't around, as richer clubs such as Manchester City get increasingly interested.

Those close to Atletico put it down to meticulous preparation allied to the unusual intensity of application that Simeone demands, ensuring every aspect of the side is maximised. You only have to look at their defensive record, the fact they’ve scored the highest amount of set-pieces in Europe and then the ferocious way they get at teams. Real Madrid so viciously fell victim to that last quality in that recent 4-0 derby defeat.

All of that points to an incredible amount of charisma, and that as a genuine political concept rather than a vague football description. It has certainly translated into tangible success.

It is also difficult to think of any manager bar Mourinho or Clough having such an instant and totally transformative effect on a club that was not among the elite. There is then little wonder the likes of Tiago talk about him with such awe.

“He arrived to the club and changed everything," he said last summer in Lisbon. "What he says comes true. If he asks us to jump from a bridge, we jump.”

A jump back to the Champions League final, starting with Bayer Leverkusen tonight, would be the clearest sign yet of Simeone's charismatic genius.