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Mon 04 April 2022 | 18:37

Simeone: Atletico need to play better than in United win to beat City

Diego Simeone, the head coach of Atletico Madrid, praised Manchester City, whom he will face in the Champions League last eight on Tuesday.

Diego Simeone

praised

Manchester City

's style but promised that Atletico Madrid will play in such a way that they can affect

Pep Guardiola

's team in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.

In their last-16 match, Atleti defeated

Manchester United

2-1 on aggregate to set up the first-ever meeting between the Spanish team and City, who strolled through Sporting in the previous round. Simeone and Guardiola, on the other hand, are no strangers to one another, having met three times, with the former eliminating Guardiola's

Bayern Munich

in the 2015-16 Champions League semi-final.

Across the two matches,

Atletico Madrid

had just 27% possession and scored twice from 18 shots, while Bayern had the same number of goals from 53 attempts. Simeone praised City's flowing offensive displays, but warned that his team will aim to expose any potential flaws in City's line-up on Tuesday. At a pre-match press conference, he observed, "What I appreciate most about clubs like City is the effort they put in to get the ball back and continue to play aggressively." "It's a joy to see them.

"They keep evolving because they have excellent players, but what wakes me up is [Raheem] Sterling and [Kevin] De Bruyne, who are always aggressive and never lose a ball." That is something that all managers desire."

"We'll play where we think we can damage them," he continued, "and exploit our traits in the same way we've done for years." We compete to win, and we'll see what happens." Indeed, since Juventus in the 1976-77 UEFA Cup, the current LaLiga winners will be the first team to face both Manchester clubs in the final stages of a European competition in the same season.

Juve won the competition that season after progressing from both of those ties, but Simeone's emphasis remains completely on the Etihad Stadium. When asked if City were favorites to win the Champions League, he answered, "We all feel pressure, I'm not sure if pressure is the proper term. We all have it, but City has exceptional players, and I'm confident they have better players than we have."

"They have a lot of character. Tomorrow is a football game; as coaches, we attempt to assist them and will continue to do so. I'll say it once more: I enjoy watching City play."


source: SportMob



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