Diego Simeone, the Atletico Madrid manager, has been married to Carla Pereyra since 2019, following a high-profile divorce from his first wife, Carolina Baldini. The 56-year-old Argentine tactician has led the Spanish club since December 2011 and returns to Anfield to face Liverpool in the Champions League league phase on Wednesday.
Marriage to Carla Pereyra
According to Hola, Simeone first met Pereyra, a property company CEO, at a restaurant in 2013. The 39-year-old Argentine, who previously found fame as a reality TV star in Spain, soon began a relationship with the manager. The couple married in June 2019 in an intimate ceremony in Buenos Aires.
A post shared on Instagram read: "Today, June 14, in an intimate ceremony with our family, we have married civilly. We are very happy!" Three months later, they held a larger second ceremony in Tuscany with 97 guests in attendance.
"We didn't need a huge party to have a beautiful wedding, so it was perfect," Carla told Vanitatis magazine. "Plus, we actually had time to be with all our guests and share moments with each of them. It was a perfect wedding."
Bitter Divorce and Public Spat
Simeone's split from model Carolina Baldini attracted considerable interest. The pair married in 1994 and formally divorced in 2014, though they had been publicly separated for some years. Tensions resurfaced in 2022 after Carolina publicly discussed the reasons behind their separation, prompting Simeone to respond.
"The separation was on good terms. There is always something, I'm not going to lie to you," Carolina said on Argentine TV show LAM. "But the truth is that it was very friendly. I was the one who made the decision to separate us."
In May 2022, Simeone told La Nacion: "I'm tired of her going out to talk after 15 years. Even more so knowing that I never talked about everything that happened and the damage it caused. She continues to speak as if no one had memory. I got tired of trying to take care of my children and protect them of the environment. There is no turning back. She broke strong family codes and I have no more patience."
Five Children from Two Marriages
Simeone is father to five children from his two marriages. From his first marriage to Carolina, he has three sons who have all pursued careers in football. Eldest son Giovanni plays as a striker for Torino, while Giuliano features in his father's squad at Atletico. Their middle child Gianluca transitioned into an agent role after an early retirement from the sport.
With his second wife Carla, Simeone welcomed two daughters, Francesca and Valentina. Carla has previously discussed Diego's strong relationship with their girls, telling Hello Magazine: "His children are the centre of his life. When he's with them, he's happy and they're his first priority... he's managed to reinvent himself as a father and that makes him even stronger."
