Yesterday a French media outlet, L’Equipe, released a list of some of the highest-paid players and managers in the footballing world. Apart from the obvious names like Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, the most surprising revelation was about the Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone. 

According to L’Equipe, the Argentinian was paid a salary monthly salary of a whopping €3.33 million! For comparison, this is more than what Pep Guardiol (€1.89m) and Jurgen Klopp (€1.49m) make combined. 

What’s even more interesting is Simeone, who is fondly known as ‘El Cholo’ makes more than some of the best players in the world. This includes Cristiano Ronaldo (€2.63m), Kevin De Bruyne (€2.06m), Gerard Pique (€2.3m), Gareth Bale and Eden Hazard (€2.2m).

For perspective, Simeone gets paid four times more than the second-highest earning coach in La Liga, Carlo Ancelotti of Real Madrid at €910,000. And €1 million more than Kylian Mbappe, who is one of the hottest commodities in football right now. 

The list also mentioned the salaries of other coaches like Antonio Conte of Tottenham Hotspur, who gets paid  €1.49m, and Massimiliano Allegri of Juventus, who is at €1.17m. 

Simeone is one of the longest-serving coaches in the footballing world, with over a decade of experience leading the current La Liga champions, Atletico Madrid. During his tenure, he’s made the Madrid based team into a formidable opponent against the two big Spanish giants: Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. 

Since he joined Atletico, the Argentinian has won two La Liga titles, the Copa del Rey, the Supercopa de Espana, two Europa League titles and two European Super Cups. He’s also led the team to two Champions League finals in 2014 and 2016, where they were defeated by their derby rival. 

Currently, Athletico Madrid will face-off against Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, after beating Manchester United.