{"id":50756,"date":"2026-04-28T22:18:05","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T16:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=50756"},"modified":"2026-04-28T22:18:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T16:48:05","slug":"diego-simeone-says-no-champions-league-wish-on-birthday-grateful-to-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/football\/diego-simeone-says-no-champions-league-wish-on-birthday-grateful-to-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Diego Simeone says no Champions League wish on birthday, \u201cGrateful to Life\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"auto\">On April 28, 2026, Atl\u00e9tico Madrid manager <strong>Diego Pablo Simeone<\/strong> (El Cholo) turned <strong>56<\/strong>. The legendary Argentine coach, born on April 28, 1970, delivered a humble and emotional message on his birthday, choosing gratitude over trophy ambitions.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\">When asked if he had any special <strong>Champions League<\/strong> wishes, Simeone replied:<\/p>\n<blockquote dir=\"auto\">\n<p dir=\"auto\">\u201cIt\u2019s my birthday, yes! If I have Champions League wishes? No.. no.. I am grateful to life. With my sons and daughters, my beautiful wife, with my life-long friends. I am enjoying everything life has to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p dir=\"auto\">The heartfelt comment came just one day before one of the biggest matches of the season.<\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"auto\">Atl\u00e9tico Madrid vs Arsenal: UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 Semi-Final First Leg<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"auto\">Simeone\u2019s Atl\u00e9tico Madrid will host <strong>Arsenal<\/strong> in the <strong>first leg<\/strong> of the <strong>UEFA Champions League 2025\/26 semi-final<\/strong> on <strong>Wednesday, April 29, 2026<\/strong>, at the <strong>Estadio Metropolitano<\/strong> (Riyadh Air Metropolitano) in Madrid. Kick-off is scheduled for <strong>21:00 CET<\/strong> (8:00 PM UK time \/ 12:30 AM IST on April 30).<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\">This is a highly anticipated heavyweight clash:<\/p>\n<ul dir=\"auto\">\n<li><strong>Atl\u00e9tico Madrid<\/strong> reached the semi-finals after knocking out <strong>Barcelona<\/strong> 3-2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Arsenal<\/strong>, under Mikel Arteta, have been one of the most impressive teams in the competition. They topped the league phase with a perfect record (8 wins from 8) and are unbeaten in the Champions League this season.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"auto\"><strong>Key Context:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul dir=\"auto\">\n<li>In the league phase earlier in the season (October 2025), <strong>Arsenal thrashed Atl\u00e9tico Madrid 4-0<\/strong> at the Emirates Stadium. Simeone and his players will be eager for revenge on home soil.<\/li>\n<li>Atl\u00e9tico are known for their intense, fighting style at the Metropolitano, where the passionate crowd creates a cauldron-like atmosphere.<\/li>\n<li>Arsenal enter the tie in strong form, boasting excellent defensive organisation and attacking quality.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"auto\">The second leg will take place at the <strong>Emirates Stadium<\/strong> on <strong>Tuesday, May 5, 2026<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On April 28, 2026, Atl\u00e9tico Madrid manager Diego Pablo Simeone (El Cholo) turned 56. The legendary Argentine coach, born on\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":50757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[177,1879],"class_list":["post-50756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-champions-league","tag-diego-simeone"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50756"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50758,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50756\/revisions\/50758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}