PreviousLive Chronicle
Diego Pablo Simeone and Pep Guardiola have not been able to escape the spotlight that has been placed on them from the moment the draw brought about the confrontation between Atlético de Madrid and Manchester City.
Despite the attempt of both, seasoned with a certain hypocrisy, not to incite the style debate, it ended up blowing up in its entirety due to what happened on and off the pitch.
The tie ended poisoned with despicable images by both teams in its final minutes and with the two coaches settling their particular dialectical battle in the press room.
Guardiola, refusing to answer about his team losing time in the final minutes,
and Simeone throwing him in the face that "the important thing is to win" and that for this City had to resort to the tricks that are usually attributed to Atlético.
The ironic applause from the Atletico coach for the English champion's wasting time was also revealing.
ATM Athletic
0
Oblak, Felipe Monteiro, Savic, Reinildo Mandava, Marcos Llorente, Renan Augusto (Correa, min. 69), Koke (De Paul, min. 68), Griezmann (Carrasco, min. 68), Kondogbia, Lemar (Luis Suárez, min. . 81) and João Félix (Matheus Cunha, min. 81)
MNC M. City
0
Ederson Moraes, Walker (Aké, min. 72), Laporte, Cancelo, John Stones, Gündogan, Rodrigo, De Bruyne (Sterling, min. 64), Bernardo Silva (Fernandinho, min. 78), Mahrez and Foden
goals
Referee
Daniel Siebert
Yellow cards Felipe Monteiro (min. 23), Marcos Llorente (min. 79), Rodrigo (min. 84), Savic (min. 90), Aké (min. 90), Mahrez (min. 93), Foden (min. 90). 95) and Cancel (min. 96)
Red cards Felipe Monteiro (min. 90)
Simeone did not digest well the use of the word prehistory that Guardiola used at the end of the first leg to specify how complicated it was, has been and will be to attack a team that defends itself with two lines of five.
El Cholo understood that Guardiola classified Atlético's football as rudimentary, using in a sibylline way the word that alluded to that ancient stage of man.
That was the reason why Simeone, in the press room of the Metropolitan, pronounced the phrase of the night that unmasked the buried crossing of statements that they had maintained.
“Many times, those who have a great lexicon are very intelligent and praise you with a sneer.
But those of us who perhaps have less lexicon are not so stupid”, Simeone reproached Guardiola.
The tie has generated contradictions as unexpected as the fact that Simeone and Atlético have emerged victorious from it despite not having made it to the semifinals.
The breeding ground for this unusual triumph was already forged after the first leg.
Atlético lost 1-0 and transmitted an ultra-defensive image with those two lines of five that pushed Guardiola to pronounce the word prehistory.
Few times a defeat and such a conservative approach had enhanced the figure of a coach so much, beyond the harsh criticism received in England or by prominent football figures such as Marco van Basten or Arrigo Sacchi.
Simeone approached the Etihad game convinced that conceding few goals was the only way for Atlético to have a chance of overcoming it at the Metropolitano.
From that point on, his defensive approach was beyond reproach.
It was also the first part of the Metropolitano, when after the initial rush, he again managed to prevent City from displaying its sophisticated attacking game except for the play in which Gundogan crashed the ball against a post.
Guardiola revealed that at halftime he warned his players that the worst was yet to come.
He sensed that Atlético would prevail physically after the wear and tear suffered three days earlier in the hectic game with Liverpool (2-2) with the leadership of the Premier League at stake.
He was not wrong, Simeone's team, spurred on by a fan in a state of ignition,
He went over City as the Catalan coach himself admitted.
His footballers were distressed with the ball and in the disputes and were subjected to the gale of Atlético.
At that point, the
Guardiola's
defeat
and Simeone 's
victory .
Baffled like a fine boxer and stylist before an unleashed puncher, the City manager turned to another midfielder, Fernandinho.
City began to resort to the cunning tricks that are usually attributed to Atlético after Felipe's incomprehensible kick from behind to Foden after having cut off the play without a foul and both being already off the pitch.
Foden had already been the object of intimidation by the Brazilian central defender in the first half, when he gave him a strong push in the air in an aerial dispute that ended with the spectacular bandage on his head that he wore for the rest of the match.
On the verge of the first act, Savic had also sent Foden against the fences when the ball had gone over the touchline.
After the impact of Felipe's kick, the English attacker rolled to be treated on the field and lose time.
Savic ran wild to get Foden out behind the sideline, but before he got there he was shoved by Sterling.
There he began the tangana, with grabs, shoves, Grealish calling Savic a loser and Savic pulling his hair.
With Grealish, according to Atlético, there were pending accounts from the first leg, after he insulted the Montenegrin and Vrsaljko after suffering a ball from Correa to the face while on the ground.
The referee added nine minutes after the incident with Foden, but barely five were played due to the loss of time by the City players on throw-ins and a foul that he had to execute.
Ederson faked an injury after a lateral free kick that Carrasco executed closed and the Brazilian goalkeeper cleared between a tangle of players.
“In the end, due to the merit of the rival, they have been locking us up more.
When there are five or ten minutes left, you have to play with this type of weapon”, justified Rodri.
The spikes were multiple until the end of the match.
Savic reproached Guardiola about the prehistory and Guardiola replied that he had not said anything.
A few meters further, Hermoso called the City bench components shitheads.
At the final whistle, Vrsaljko, after being pushed by Walker and Carson,
he had an outbreak of a fight finally stopped by the National Police.
The final image of a clash of styles that led to the shocking
Simeone's
victory
and Guardiola 's
defeat .
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