Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick lavished praise on Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone for developing the Spanish champions into 'one of the most respected' in Europe.
Simeone was appointed as Atletico coach in 2011 and has guided them to two La Liga titles, two Europa League triumphs and two Champions League finals, which they lost on both occasions to city rivals Real in 2014 and 2016.
Atletico secured their second championship last season but are currently fifth in La Liga and 15 points adrift of leaders Real, having lost at home last week to basement club Levante.
Despite Atletico's struggles this season, Rangnick spoke effusively about their identity under Simeone on the eve of United's first European Cup meeting with Atletico. "In those 11 years, he won trophies with a clear identity, with a recognisable playing style and I don't think this has changed in the last years," Rangnick said.
"It's always an emotional side and this reflects the character of the manager. Diego Simeone is probably one of the most emotional managers in Europe and the style and the way his teams have always performed reflects those emotions that he always tries to bring to the team.
"And this is what it's about: we need to match the emotions and energy in both games and this is what we will have to be aware of. I will try to prepare our team for exactly that kind of challenge.
"It will be physical, it will be emotional, we have to be mentally strong in both games, more so away. We've never played each other yet but I've always admired what he's achieved in 11 years.
"At Atletico, he changed their club completely into one of the most respected clubs in Europe and I'm looking forward to those two games we're playing."
Atletico reached the last four of the Champions League three times in four seasons in the mid-2010s whereas United have not progressed beyond the last eight since their final appearance in 2011, when they thrashed Rangnick's Schalke side in the semi-finals.
United have been ejected from the competition at the group stage three times in the last 10 years and only reached the quarter-finals under David Moyes in 2014 and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer while he was still caretaker manager in 2019.
Although Rangnick acknowledged United's wretched record was mystifying, he said there were second-tier clubs in Germany, where Schalke and former European Cup winners Hamburg now play, with pedigree worthy of the last four.
"We also have to be realistic, there have to be some reasons why it wasn't the case in the past," Rangnick noted. "We should not be too interested in what happened in the last seven or eight years, the future and normal life is in the present tense.
"We have the chance to proceed to the quarter-finals of the Champions League but in order to do that we have to show that we are up for that and we can beat Atletico Madrid and if we manage to do that this will give us another boost, this will raise the level of the players' confidence, and we will see what happens then.
"To say a club like Manchester United should regularly be in the semi-finals of the Champions League, I could recall other clubs in Europe where this should also be the case. Some of them play in the second division. In Germany, I could tell you three or four clubs where this is the case."
