BUENOS AIRES, Dec 14 - During his playing days, Estudiantes coach Diego Simeone was famously said to play with a knife between his teeth.

Simeone's combative style, admired by his team-mates, was either feared or loathed by his rivals, none more so than England after he provoked the sending off of David Beckham during a World Cup quarter-final in 1998.

After winning an Argentine record 106 caps, Simeone finally hung up his knife in February and immediately turned to coaching.

Less than one year later, the 35-year-old is already celebrating his first major title after Estudiantes beat favourites Boca Juniors 2-1 in a playoff on Wednesday to win the Apertura championship.

Simeone's never-say-die attitude has clearly rubbed off on his team, who chased Boca relentlessly throughout the campaign and were rewarded with their first championship for 23 years.

Some of the Estudiantes tackles which flew in on Wednesday had all the hallmarks of Simeone at his fearsome best.

"I kept telling the players that the most thing is that you never stop believing," said Simeone.

Estudiantes had been six points behind Boca and had played a game more after nine matches of the 19-match campaign.

However, a run of 10 successive wins -- including a 2-1 victory at Newell's Old Boys where they scored twice in injury-time -- meant they finished level on points with Boca and sent the competition to Wednesday's playoff.

Simeone, however, is more than just a motivator and has already shown a knack for making the right substitutions at the right time.

VERON INFLUENCE

In contrast, his opposite number Ricardo La Volpe -- who resigned as Boca coach immediately after the defeat -- got it all wrong, pulling his team back into defence after they scored an early goal and handing the initiative to Estudiantes.

The other key factor for Estudiantes was the influence of Juan Sebastian Veron, who joined the club he supported as a boy in July.

With his vision and astute passing, Veron ran the team in midfield, ignoring the jeers from rival fans who still blame him for Argentina's first-round exit at the 2002 World Cup.

"Only a few people believed we could do this, just ourselves and our supporters," he said.

Estudiantes's success was also seen as justice after an alleged attempt by the supporters of their arch-rivals Gimnasia-La Plata to help Boca Juniors.

Gimnasia had been leading Boca 1-0 at halftime when their match on September 10 was called off after Gimnasia president Juan Jose Munoz allegedly threatened the referee in his dressing-room.

The second half was played nearly two months later, by which time Estudiantes -- who had handed Gimnasia a historic 7-0 drubbing in the meantime -- were seriously challenging Boca for the title.

On the eve of the game, a group of Gimnasia fans allegedly burst into the team's headquarters and demanded the team lost to Boca to damage the chances of Estudiantes.

The following day, Gimnasia conceded four goals in 45 minutes as they lost 4-1. Public prosecutors opened an investigation but the Gimnasia players denied receiving death threats.