Cholo Simeone, smiling during his appearance at the Etihad. /
Rooms | Going
The rojiblanco coach says that what he likes most about a team that plays as well as City is “the work that its stars have to do to propose that attacking football”
Cholo Simeone, Atlético coach, assumes that Manchester City is surely a better team and has better players than the mattresses, but he insists on the message that there are two games and everything is possible in football. He praised Pep Guardiola’s team and above all highlighted the “work” their stars must do to press high, steal the ball and have it.
What do you learn from Guardiola?, the Argentine coach was asked in the guts of the Etihad before the official training. «What I like the most about teams that play well, like City, is the effort they have to recover, to propose attacking football. It’s nice to watch him play, he’s continually evolving, his figures too, and what really wakes me up is seeing Sterling or De Bruyne pressing, always being active, never giving up on any ball. He adds that share of work to talent that all coaches like.
He denied that City and Bayern Munich are under more pressure as they are the big favorites for the title. “We all have pressure, although I don’t know if pressure is the word. We have responsibility. City have extraordinary footballers, better than us for sure. They are two parties. City and Bayern start ahead, but last year Chelsea won the championship, they did not expect it and it grew and became strong.
Cholo assured that repeating United’s previous plan regarding flight, hotel and time of the press conference is “coincidence”, not superstition. And he denied that the mystique of having already beaten other great rivals in Europe can help them this time. He also rejected that the coaches are the stars of this quarterfinal tie. «No, both teams have very good squads, very complete, with different characteristics in all places, but with personality, hierarchy. It will be a game of footballers, although we will try to help from the bench. I’m glad to see City play », he insisted.
Can the match at Old Trafford be of any use to you tomorrow? “Manchester United had different qualities, faster, more direct. City is more positional, they have very good records and we will have to improve on all the good things we did three weeks ago. Once again among the top eight in Europe, Cholo believes that »all those classified aspire to the most beautiful place, which is to win. I hope whoever deserves wins«.
