Like father, like sons: Legendary Diego Simeone’s trio of footballers

Argentina legend Diego Simeone’s sons are making their own way in the game.

Incredibly, Giovanni, 26, Gianluca, 23, and Giuliano, 19, have all become professional footballers – after their father paved the way.

The Atletico Madrid manager, now 54, enjoyed a storied career – starring for the likes of Inter Milan and Lazio as a player.

‘Cholo’ won LaLiga as a player for Atletico, as well as a Serie A title with Lazio in 2000.

While for his country, he earned 108 caps – lifting the Copa America twice.

And it seems that the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree when it comes to his boys.

One is a leading striker in Italian football, another has found the goalscoring touch in Spain’s second division, while the youngest was handed his debut by his famous dad this past season.

The eldest son couldn’t be further from the snarling, tough-tackling midfielder his dad was.

Giovanni has become one of Serie A’s most feared strikers playing for Hellas Verona, on loan from Cagliari.

Last season, he managed 17 goals in all competitions for the club – helping I Gialloblu to a ninth-placed finish.

That has alerted Premier League clubs, including Arsenal, to his services.

But his career started slowly – with Genoa and Fiorentina only seeing fleeting glimpses of his potential, before exploding on the scene in his last campaign.

And it wasn’t until a virtuoso performance against Lazio – when he netted all four goals for Hellas Verona – that he earned praise from his hard-to-please old man.

“He wrote to me that I played the best game of my career,” Giovanni told Gazzetta dello Sport.

“He said, ‘I’ve never seen you like this. Beyond the goals, you didn’t lose balls and you always helped your team-mates.'”

Internationally, Giovanni has been recognised by Argentina – and has five caps to his name.
In 2018, he scored his first goal for the South Americans in a friendly against Guatemala.

Making a different path for himself, again as a centre forward, is Gianluca.
Initially, he bounced around South America – starting at River Plate, before getting first-team experience at Chilean Primera Division club Union La Calera.

River Plate let him go to Gimnasia y Esgrima for a free transfer – and he made his debut against Atlético Tucumán in 2019.
Gianluca was unable to break into their team, though, and without a run of games couldn’t show off his goalscoring prowess.

That all changed when UD Ibiza decided to take a punt on him on loan, where he first played for their reserves Sant Rafel.
In his second game for the club, he scored his

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