Diego Simeone was full of praise for Manchester City ahead of their Champions League meeting with Atletico Madrid, but piled the pressure on the Blues by reminding them of their defeat to Chelsea in last season's final.
City got to their first final last year, but fell at the final hurdle as they remain without the title they crave the most - just like Atletico have done in recent years. When asked if both sides were under pressure to win the Champions League for the first time, Simeone mischievously reminded City of their Chelsea defeat.
"We all have pressure, I don't know if pressure is the right word," Simeone said as he praised and poked City in equal measure. "We all have it but no doubt City have extraordinary players and I'm sure they have better players than us. But there are two games to play.
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"City and Bayern [Munich] are favourites for the Champions League because they have more possibility for their players but last year Chelsea won and not many expected. They got better and played a good tournament."
Despite his jibe on City's Champions League chances, Simeone was full of praise for the Blues and admitted he loves to watch them. "What I like most from teams like City is the effort they have to win the ball back and continue to play attacking," he noted.
"They're lovely to watch. They continue evolving because they have great players but what wakes me up, the important players like [Raheem] Sterling, [Kevin] De Bruyne, they're always active, never leave a ball lost. All managers want that.
"City and Atletico have great squads, very complete with good players, different characteristics. They [City] have a lot of personality, a lot of hierarchy. Tomorrow is a game for footballers, we as coaches try and help them and we'll do the same. I'll say again, I like watching City play."
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