Arch-pragmatist Diego Simeone offers Arsenal a snarling glimpse of what could be after Arsene Wenger leaves

If this was the audition some thought it was then Simeone aggressively failed every single one of Ivan Gazidis’ key competencies yet could still find himself replacing Wenger

What is the opposite of a prospective job application? Tonight Diego Simeone aggressively failed every single one of Ivan Gazidis’ key competencies for the role of replacing Arsene Wenger as Arsenal manager this summer. He should not even expect a telephone call back. So why is the prospect of Simeone at Arsenal, this summer or in the future, so hard to stop thinking about?

Not that we got much of a taste here of what it might look like with Simeone marching up and down the Emirates touchline. He was sent to the stands after less than 15 minutes and spent the rest of the evening stood at the top of a flight of stairs in the directors’ box, buzzing with nervous energy, conveying instructions to an assistant and nearly bursting with restrained glee when Antoine Griezmann scored that deadly equalising away goal with six minutes left.

But even in Simeone’s absence from the touchline, the course of the game, and especially its dramatic outcome, clearly bore his unique mark. And that is why his team, and not Wenger’s, is likely to be in the final in Lyon on 16 May.

Simeone was given his marching orders early in the first-half (Getty)

Last Friday when Gazidis earnestly spelled out his key criteria for Wenger’s replacement, he did not exactly sound like a man trying to flirt with the current Atletico coach. He spoke about wanting a man who “represents the club”, and the “qualities and values” that Wenger has embodied here over the years. That is generally taken to mean class and dignity, but that is not what Simeone came here to project. He came here to win.

So, in very opening minutes of the game, Simeone was screaming into the officials’ ears, waving his hand back and forth, trying to get Mesut Ozil booked for what he perceived as a dive. When Sime Vrsaljko was booked and then booked again, Simeone exploded with rage, shouting at anyone in sight, and was soon ordered to the stands. Wenger has had his share of strops over the years, but nothing quite like this.

The second quality Gazidis demanded was someone who plays “exciting, progressive football” in keeping with Wenger’s “football values”. Different things excite different people but he surely will not have meant this. In his remarkable six years in charge at Atletico, Simeone has perfected a brand of ferociously disciplined, hard-working, attritional football that has seen them achieve things few could have imagined: Europa League, Super Cup, Copa del Rey and La Liga titles, and two agonising Champions League final defeats too.

But it is not artistic or expansive, and it leaves little space for the imagination, wit or flair of the players who play it. It is about sacrifice, selflessness and winning by any means necessary.

This is not Atletico’s greatest team but this evening was a display of the skills that has made them so good. The rigorous defensive shape, a narrow back four, no space between the men, with a midfield not too far in front of them. The backs to the wall resilience, not getting thrown by going one man down just 13 minutes in and, if anything, feeding off that sense of grievance to push them even harder.

Thomas Partey exemplified the visitor's approach (Getty)

The exhausting physical commitment to keep running even as it got harder and harder, exemplified by Thomas Partey moving from midfield to right-back but skill troubling Arsenal with his forward runs.

And, finally, the counter-attacking ruthlessness to sense a weakness and go for the throat when the whole tie was in the balance. There were six minutes left when Jose Maria Gimenez hit a long ball forward, Antoine Griezmann - pushed out to the wing all night – out-muscled Laurent Koscielny, terrified Shkodran Mustafi and stuck the ball into the net.

While Arsenal might well see Simeone and his approach as anathema, that is what gives the idea of him here such power. There is always something exciting about a manager taking over an institution which goes against everything he stands for. That is the power of Brian Clough at Leeds, or why it would have been so fascinating if Jose Mourinho had got the Barcelona job over Pep Guardiola in 2008, a snub that has fuelled him ever since.

Griezmann scored a potentially decisive away goal (Getty)

But all of Simeone’s qualities are the qualities that Arsenal have been missing over the past 10 years. Some might say that the future of football belongs to coaches like Pep Guardiola but no manager has over-achieved more this decade than Simeone. That league title and those two Champions League finals are levels that Wenger has not hit since the middle of the last decade, never mind this one. And now he is set to deny him the dream farewell too.

Whether Simeone would want to give up his power base and take on this culture shock is another matter. He may want one more push at the Champions League, having come so close twice. But Gazidis promised the world a bold appointment. Why not give this one a go?