Out of sight, but definitely not out of mind. Diego Simeone watched way up in the directors' box as Atletico beat Real Madrid in the city's derby on Saturday. But even from afar, he controlled his side's every move.
After Atleti's last visit to the Santiago Bernabeu in the recent Supercopa series, the Argentine coach claimed he had planned to keep the game tight for an hour and then look to change it with his substitutions. And that was exactly what happened here, even though his side scored after just 10 minutes through Tiago.
Cristiano Ronaldo's equaliser from the penalty spot meant the game was back to where it started in any case and Simeone sent on Antoine Griezmann and Arda Turan to make things happen in the second half. They didn't disappoint. Griezmann set up Turan for a curler which whistled only inches wide, before the Turk drove a right-footed finish low into the corner to win it.
Down at pitch level, Simeone's assistant German Burgos was the man shouting the orders and making the changes. But they had Simeone's stamp all over them.
"Koke made us more fluid in midfield, Arda made us play better and Griezmann gave us pace up front," Simeone said after the match. "Those who had been waiting for their chance came on and responded well."
In purely aesthetic terms, Atleti didn't play particularly well - at least in the first half. But they did what this team has done so often before and ground out a result that hadn't seemed possible in the latter stages of the opening period. "Around 10 or 11 players left us [in the summer], but the nucleus is intact," Simeone said. "And that's the strength of this group. Our strength is hard work."
So while his opposite number Carlo Ancelotti complained that Madrid lacked "intensity and attitude", there was never a question of that happening to Atletico. There never is.
"We won't change," the Argentine added. "I think this is the first time this club has won two league games in a row here (at the Bernabeu). That's important for our fans and for this team, which is rebuilding. We are still having some difficulties when it comes to consistency, but with the capacity for hard work shown by the players and the performance in the second half, I'm happy."
And so he should be. This team may not have hit the heights of last season's side yet, but that is understandable given all the changes in player personnel and, at this early stage, things are going wonderfully well for both Atletico and Simeone.
Having won the Supercopa over two legs against Madrid last month, the champions sit second behind Barcelona in the table with seven points out of nine so far. And whether Simeone is in the dugout or up in the stands, the result seems to be the same.
"They can trap Diego Simeone behind glass but they can't contain his Atletico Madrid team," Gary Lineker tweeted on Saturday night.
The Argentine's ban for slapping the assistant referee on the back of the head, protesting and sarcastically applauding the officials in Atleti's Supercopa success last month runs for eight games in total, but is split evenly between Liga and Supercopa fixtures, meaning the 44-year-old can return to his rightful position on the bench in the Champions League against Olympiakos this week and then again in the Primera Division after his side's home match versus Celta Vigo next weekend.
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