Atletico Madrid captain Koke has hit back at Pep Guardiola’s apparent dig at Diego Simeone’s tactics, after Manchester City won their Champions League quarter-final first leg 1-0 on Tuesday night.
Kevin De Bruyne’s late goal finally broke Atletico’s resistance after a stubborn rearguard action had kept City at arm’s length for most of the match.
Similar tactics from Simeone frustrated Guardiola’s Bayern Munich side in a famous 2016 Champions League encounter which saw Atletico head to the final at Bayern’s expense. Like Bayern, City struggled to find a way to break down the tactic and created few clearcut opportunities, until Phil Foden came off the bench and carved open a space which led to the breakthrough.
Guardiola stressed after the match that it is not easy to attack a dedicated defensive system like Atletico deployed at the Etihad, saying: “We sensed they would play 3-5-2, then they adjusted and went to a 5-5-0. In prehistoric times, now and in 100,000 years, it is always very difficult to attack a 5-5 formation.”
Taking offence at the comment, Koke wrote on Instagram around an image of the Atletico club crest: “In love with your history since prehistoric times, proud to be Atleti.”
The exchange follows a fiesty game in which both teams appeared to get frustrated at times. One flare up even saw Guardiola himself step in after Angel Correa kicked the ball at Jack Grealish while the City winger was lying on the ground.
Grealish appeared a particular target for Atletico’s players to actively antagonise, and afterwards Guardiola warned his team they will have to control their emotions for the return leg in Spain.
“We have to control our emotions and do what we have to do,” Guardiola said. “There will be a referee there and we have to play our game. (Atletico) have faced this kind of knockout stages many times and it will be a good test for us with our maturity in this game.
“Jack reacted really well and stayed focused on what we needed to do.”
Guardiola said City will have to attack and look for more goals in Madrid, rather than sitting on their slender lead.
“We’ve won the game with 1-0 and after 1-0 it was a little bit different. All the players start to press a little bit higher,” Guardiola said. “If the game starts on the good side for Atletico, maybe they come back in to the game.
“Now we have five days to prepare and review the game and try to (see) what we can do to attack a bit better and go there to not defend the result and try and win the game.”
The second leg will be held at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid next Wednesday. Before that, City host Premier League title rivals Liverpool on Sunday.
