Atletico Madrid 'among the few teams in Europe who can beat Manchester City' - Inside Europe
Published 04/04/2022 at 12:55 GMT
The quarter-finals of the Champions League are upon us and among the mouth-watering ties thrown up, favourites Manchester City take on Atletico Madrid. Diego Simeone's side travel to the Etihad first as underdogs but have a history of upsetting the odds in the competition. Eurosport Spain's Felix Martin breaks down how they are shaping up ahead of the tie.
Inside Europe - Atletico Madrid
Image credit: Eurosport
Atletico Madrid travel to the Etihad Stadium ahead of a daunting Champions League quarter-final first leg tie against Manchester City.
The reigning Premier League champions look determined to make up for their defeat in last year’s final and are currently the bookies favourites to take the big prize.
However, Diego Simone’s team are no strangers to the underdog tag in this competition. In fact, it is something they relish and know that pulling off an upset certainly isn’t beyond them as the likes of Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Liverpool can attest to in recent years.
City boss Pep Guardiola often had the better of Atleti during his time with Barcelona in La Liga but likely won’t forget being eliminated by Simeone’s side as Bayern boss in the 2016 semi-final.
Eurosport Spain’s Felix Martin breaks down exactly how they are approaching this equally huge encounter as they eye a place in the final four for the first time since 2017.
Atleti are in fine form, has Diego Simeone figured out his best team? Who are the key players? Who will start upfront?
The key to Simeone's team right now is the confidence that he has given to Joao Félix. He is a different player and he can become one of the best players in Europe if he feels like he is important.
The result of the confidence he has been feeling is that he has scored 6 goals (including in the previous round against Manchester United) and provided 2 assists in the last month.
If I were Simeone I would obviously play Joao Félix against City bearing in mind the level that he has been playing at this last month.
Do you think Simeone will try and play the same way as against United?
This isn't just a Simeone thing but the consequence of UEFA changing the format of the Champions League this year and the away goals away losing the importance they had. So yes, you can expect Simeone - and every other team not playing at home the first leg - to play quite defensively in Manchester.
What formation are you expecting?
He has been using the 4-4-2 in pretty much every match Atleti has played this season, but we'll see.
Where do you think Atletico's weakpoints are?
Atlético seemed to have lost the most important part of their way of playing: the defensive intensity.
Somehow their main strength became their worst weakness at some point this season. But as you have said, they haven't lost since February 16th, which suggests that Atlético and Simeone have regained their competitive edge and the defensive intensity to pick up very good results once again.
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Diego Simeone of Atletico Madrid celebrates during the UEFA Champions League match between Manchester United v Atletico Madrid at the Old Trafford on March 15, 2022 in Manchester United Kingdom (Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images)
Image credit: Eurosport
Is it a more pessimistic mood in the press/fans compared to the United game? Or still optimistic?
To me it is obvious that nowadays Manchester City is way stronger than Manchester United. So yes, they're a little bit more pessimistic because we all know what Guardiola can do and how strong Manchester City is, but if there only are few teams in Europe that can defeat Manchester City, Altético Madrid is without a doubt among them.
They have can take the example of what they did against Liverpool back in 2020, And Manchester City should be wary of what they did back then as well.
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