Diego Simeone Ties LaLiga's All-Time Wins Record — and His Son Scored the Sealer

Fifteen years into a job that was never supposed to last this long, Diego Simeone now stands next to the man who defined Atlético Madrid before him. Atlético's 2-0 win at Levante on Saturday, October 31, was the 344th LaLiga victory of Simeone's tenure, drawing him level with Luis Aragonés as the coach with the most wins in the history of the Spanish top flight, according to Opta's figures, which Atlético de Madrid confirmed in the club's own announcement of the milestone.

The numbers underneath the tie are what make it remarkable. Opta's record, reported by Daily Sports and SoccerNews, credits Simeone with 344 wins in 565 LaLiga matches, alongside 123 draws and 98 losses. Aragonés reached the same win total in 756 matches, spread across multiple clubs and seven spells at Atlético. Simeone got there in 191 fewer games — and every single one of his 344 wins came in charge of the same club, the one he took over in December 2011.

The night in Valencia

The record did not arrive in a walkover arranged for the occasion. Atlético travelled to the Ciutat de València chasing a seventh consecutive league win against a Levante side fighting near the bottom of the table, and the home side started brighter: Dani Requena forced Jan Oblak into a sprawling stop in the 11th minute, and Morten Hjulmand then had a 16th-minute goal ruled out by VAR for offside, according to AllFootball's match report. The milestone sat waiting until the 36th minute, when Jon Ander Olasagasti made a mess of clearing Álex Baena's pass and Alejandro Grimaldo stole in to rifle the ball home at goalkeeper Mathew Ryan's near post — and Atlético carried the 1-0 lead into the second half.

The second goal is the part of this story that will be told in the Simeone family for a long time. Atlético had already had a second goal chalked off — David Hancko, just beyond the defence in the 54th minute — before the clincher arrived in the 62nd: Baena saw the break, Giuliano Simeone held off Nacho Pérez's challenge and slotted the ball past Ryan, as AllFootball and Okay News reported. Giuliano is Diego Simeone's son. The goal that sealed the win that tied the all-time record was scored by the record-chaser's own kid, wearing the same shirt his father has defended from the touchline for nearly 15 years. "Baena has an incredible ability to see Giuliano's break," the coach said afterwards, according to SoccerNews.

AFP's report of the match, carried by Ekkow, confirmed the final shape of the night: a solid 2-0 away win, a seventh consecutive league victory, and Simeone's 344th LaLiga win at the helm of Atlético, matching the record set by Luis Aragonés.

"I feel it very little as my own"

Simeone, characteristically, tried to give the record away the moment it was handed to him. "I feel it very little as my own. I feel it belongs to everyone," he said after the match, according to Heavy's report. SoccerNews reported the same sentiment from the Atlético coach: that the milestone has been a team effort across the last 15 years, built by the players and staff who passed through the club during his tenure, rather than a personal landmark.

He also remembered the people who gave him the opportunity in the first place. Heavy reported that Simeone thanked Atlético chief executive Miguel Ángel Gil Marín and club president Enrique Cerezo, along with the players and coaching staff who have been part of the journey since December 2011. It is a fitting posture for a coach whose entire Atlético project has been built on the collective — the low block, the shared suffering, the idea that the team defends its own history together.

Level with the legend, ahead of him everywhere else

Aragonés, known as "El Sabio de Hortaleza" — the Wise Man of Hortaleza — remains one of the most important figures in Atlético's history, a former player and coach who later led Spain to the Euro 2008 title. The LaLiga wins record was the last major coaching mark in Spanish football that still carried his name alone at the top.

Inside Atlético's own history, Simeone passed him some time ago. In its announcement of Saturday's milestone, the club credited Simeone with 479 wins in 813 official matches across all competitions, figures reported by Okay News. Heavy, citing the same club accounting, put Aragonés's all-competition Atlético total at 308 wins in 612 matches. Simeone has also won eight trophies as Atlético's coach, compared with six for Aragonés, according to the club figures reported by Okay News. The LaLiga record was the one that belonged to the whole of Spanish football — and that is the one he now shares.

Seven straight, and the title race is real

The record arrived in the middle of Atlético's best run of the season. Saturday's win was their seventh in a row in LaLiga — the longest active winning streak in Europe's top five leagues, ahead of Paris Saint-Germain's six in Ligue 1, according to SoccerNews. Atlético have now won nine of their 11 league matches, including five away from home, Heavy reported.

For a few hours on Saturday, the win even put Atlético top of the table. It did not last the day: Barcelona answered with a 6-1 demolition of Alavés later on Saturday, restoring a two-point lead at the summit. But a team level on history and two points off first place in November is a team in a genuine title race — and Simeone's Atlético have made a habit of staying in races longer than anyone expects.

For more of Saturday's European action, see how Milan ripped Inter 3-1 in the Derby della Madonnina, and keep up with the rest of the weekend on the Previously sports front.

One more win

That is what makes Atlético's next league match appointment viewing. First there is a Champions League trip to Bayern Munich on Tuesday, AFP reported — and then Barcelona come to the Metropolitano next weekend. Simeone is no longer chasing the record — he is sharing it, and the first league win from here makes it his alone, outright, in fewer games than anyone in LaLiga history has ever needed. It could come against the one team ahead of Atlético, in a game that would also stretch the winning streak to eight, matching the run of January 2025, as AllFootball noted. For a coach who arrived in December 2011 promising nothing more than to go game by game — partido a partido — the arithmetic of that patience is now sitting at the top of the record book: 344 wins, 565 games, one club, one family name on the scoresheet the night he got there.