No one is surprised at this point in the film that Pep Guardiola and Diego Pablo Simeone are not exactly friends. We are talking about two completely antagonistic coaches who, in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals, showed the obvious differences between their approaches and conceptions of football, not without throwing a few darts along the way. Atlético played the defensive that allows them to reach the second leg alive at the Metropolitan.
Guardiolachampion of nice football and possession, he complained about the stingy approach of his rival with a reflection that will bring tail because it seemed to call Atlético de Madrid old-fashioned. “We sensed that they would play 5-3-2, then they adjusted and they went 5-5. In prehistory, today and in a hundred thousand years it is very difficult to attack a 5-5, it is that there are no spaces“, Said a Pep who was not at all happy with the rival’s approach despite taking the win. “They are masters defending all together and it is difficult. We have managed to prevent them from running, we have not conceded chances and we have had patience”, he summed up.
Simeone He did not see the same game as Guardiola and took the opportunity to make the speech of humility from Atlético. “Three good players come out and three better ones come in. It’s a team that plays very well, which achieves it based on the great individualities it has. It’s nice to see City play, the patience they have to play. With different weapons, the two of us were looking for the same thing “.”, Said the Argentine about his rival.
Atlético made history in the first half by not being able to take a shot on the rival goal, being the only club that has done it in 45 minutes since the shots in the competition are counted. At the start of the game, the rojiblancos suffered from Cancelo’s raises, forcing Griezmann and Joao Félix to play as midfielders, making a perfect 5-5 line that suffocated City.
Just a Foden spark Two minutes after entering the field, the fate of a match changed where it seemed that neither wanted to play anything. The British slipped with a control oriented in a tangle of Atlético legs to attend Kevin Bruyne who crossed the ball to the bottom of the net before Oblak left. It was perhaps the only play where City DNA could be seen in a match that was more reminiscent of trench warfare than a football match.
Atlético has reason to dream because its rival is playing for the leadership of the Premier League this weekend in a direct duel with Liverpool. The rojiblancos know that they will have to be deeper and more pressing in the lap or City will not let them smell the ball defending the 1-0 lead with it. Simeone is going to have to play against the foot whether he likes it or not and that’s when Guardiola will be waiting for him more eagerly than ever. Will the modern football of the Catalan or the prehistoric one of the Argentine win?