The match ended with heated spirits at the Wanda Metropolitano. After nine minutes of injury time and a strong previous brawl after a fall by Phil Foden that ended up leaving Felipe out, Atlético de Madrid had to say goodbye to the Champions League in the quarterfinals. The fans barely moved and sang the anthem to accompany their own. A pride for what has been done despite the defeat.
Because Atlético de Madrid came close to passing, but the 1-0 produced by Kevin de Bruyne and Phil Foden at the Etihad ended up being the absolute sentence of the tie. A spark of talent that ended up breaking down the wall.
In Madrid, Simeone aimed all his missiles against Manchester City at the exact moment: the second half. Withstanding 1-0 on aggregate in the tie for a game and a half, they had to go out and die with everything and only the lack of precision killed the options of the rojiblancos, who were a hurricane in the second half.
They took possession of Manchester City (51-49) and finished off up to thirteen times towards Ederson’s door, yes, only two were on the way to the goal and the Brazilian had to work hard. The clear occasions followed one another during a part and the miracle was close. Manchester City showed that style matters and they know their way to win, but that champion teams (and City are) also have to know how to survive. The same was the rojiblanco, the harsh atmosphere… City experienced what in England they call “a cold and rainy night in Stoke”. Bad weather and everything against. Show if they know how to survive in the worst scenarios and the blue shark, which did not bite as usual and was injured, survived with the other football. One that they show little, but that they demonstrated to know how to use.
Guardiola was aware that they were close to dying on the shore, there where Atlético put them. He recognized the rojiblanco merit and encouraged his team. “If we play like the second half we won’t have a chance. We’ll try to play like in Manchester and in moments of the first half here. We come from a match without time to prepare this one. They have been very good. HIt has been very complicated. We have resisted.” He assured in the first interview on television with rights already evaluating his next confrontation against Real Madrid in the semifinals.
In the enormous press room of the Metropolitan, he insisted. “We had to adapt to how Atlético de Madrid played in the second half, because we didn’t have the ball or the intention to create. We were thinking it was 1-0 in the Champions League, and we’re not so used to it.. We suffer because we forget to play, but also because the rival was very, very good. […] We have to suffer. I am proud because the rival was very good. We tried to take the ball from them, but we couldn’t. With the players and the chances they had, they could have scored a goal. In the second part they were better than us. I didn’t expect anything else. We talked about it at halftime, to prepare for the worst. If we hadn’t played in the first leg as we did, I wouldn’t be sitting here saying that we’ve passed”, analyzed the Catalan coach.
An important rival of City throughout his career also moved in this line of thought, Rio Ferdinand, former captain of Manchester United. “I have to say, speaking of football, congratulations to Atlético de Madrid because they made Manchester City play in a way that we hadn’t seen in a long time, they took away their rhythm and pace”ensured that he was an English international.
In terms of tactics, Guardiola had to urge his team to resist against Atlético de Madrid who executed a clear plan from the first minute of the tie. He changed the script of the match, snatched possession from City, but the long-awaited goal never came.
