The most conflicting clash of styles that can occur in European football will measure Pep Guardiola's Manchester City and Diego Pablo Simeone's Atlético de Madrid in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
Possession and high pressure against withdrawal and counterattack.
The first leg will be played at the Etihad on Tuesday the 5th and the second leg at the Metropolitano on the 13th of the same month.
The winner of the tie will face the winner of Chelsea-Real Madrid in the semifinals.
Simeone probably disliked the confrontation less than Guardiola.
The characteristics of City offer the Argentine coach the possibility of adjusting to his most classic script, now that he seems to have recovered it with the conviction of his players.
He will also be able to adopt the role of false victim with which Atlético manages so well.
“We know that it will be difficult to impose our game, because they are good at it.
We have to be smart and wait for the right moment.
They are what they are and they are able to avoid what you are.
They can defend low down, but they can also pressure you up high at times”, Pep Guardiola warned.
"I have great respect for Guardiola and for his work at City," Simeone limited himself to saying.
For this one,
His challenge will be how to reduce the high volume of chances generated by City's control of the ball and how to skip the pressure.
Without a pure nine, the arrival of his second-row players (De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Mahrez or Gundogan) is his weapon.
For Guardiola, the mission will be to find holes for a team that will be shielded and guard their backs against possible red-and-white counterattacks.
The morbidity will be put by the presence of Rodri, who left Simeone's direction to grow under Guardiola's umbrella.
The statistics are revealing of that stylistic clash.
City averages 67% possession to 48% for Atlético.
Guardiola's team registers 19 shots per game to 12 for the rojiblancos.
Guardiola's team has scored 107 goals so far this season (2.5 per game) and Simeone's team has scored 67 (1.74).
It is curious that City has fewer goals against on average (0.74) than the mattresses (1.26).
“Last year they were about to win the Champions League.
They have a great coach, some great players, they play great football," said Koke, who added: "We like challenges.
The more difficult, the more we get the best of us.
We haven't been bad at English teams, except for last year's tie against Chelsea.
It is true that it is the first time that we face City.
It will be an even match, with intensity and level.
These qualifiers are decided by details.
The important thing, as was seen against Manchester United, is to attack and defend as a unit.
We spent the tie playing two great games.
That's what we have to do, play two almost perfect games to get through the tie”, concluded the Atletico captain.
The clashes between the two coaches are limited to three, because Simeone's arrival at Atlético in December 2011 almost coincided with Guardiola's departure from Barcelona in the summer of 2013. In a single clash in LaLiga, in February 2012, the Barça team was imposed in the Calderón (1-2).
It was the two duels with Bayern in the semifinals of the 2016 Champions League that best reflected that clash of styles from which Simeone emerged the winner.
In the first leg the rojiblancos prevailed (1-0) and in the second leg Bayern won (2-1), but Atlético went through by double the value of the goals.
Both Simeone and his soccer players declared at the end of the match in Munich that they had never faced a rival who submitted them so much and with so many resources.
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