The scenario of this double confrontation seems written in advance, summed up by a simple statistic: possession of the ball.

For Manchester City, all competitions combined, it reaches 67% on average this season, while it is only 48% for the Colchoneros and even 41% in European matches.

The first leg at the Etihad is therefore likely to look like a very long attack-defense exercise as the two technicians are inflexible on their principles of play.

Argentinian coach of Atletico Madrid Diego Simeone, during the match of the 27th day of LaLiga against Real Betis, March 6, 2022 in Seville CRISTINA QUICLER AFP / Archives

Seeing Guardiola's passing game and Simeone's compact block, fond of the slightest opportunity to counter, clash, is enough to make all lovers of tactics salivate, even if aesthetes will necessarily be on the side of the first.

Guardiola, however, firmly rejects this Manichaeism.

"I'm not going to waste a single second on these silly debates (...) I never judge what the opponent does. What they do (it's up to them), we do what we have to do to win," he said at a pre-match press conference on Tuesday.

Manchester City's Spanish coach Pep Guardiola, during a press conference, March 8, 2022 at the Manchester Football Academy, on the eve of the Champions League round of 16 second leg against Sporting Lisbon Oli SCARFF AFP/Archives

The warning of 2016

Strangely, the precedents between these two experienced coaches are not legion, but they serve as a warning for City.

At the head of Barça, the Catalan had won (2-1) their first meeting, in 2012, in the Spanish championship, while the Argentinian had just taken the reins of the Rojiblancos for two months.

But during his experience at the helm of Bayern Munich, Guardiola was eliminated with an away goal by Atlético in the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2016 (1-0, 1-2), with a return match which illustrated to the absurd that the best team does not always win.

Having dominated three quarters of the double confrontation, having had 68% possession on the return, having shot 34 times against 7 for Atlético, Munich had taken the door.

Argentinian coach of Atlético Madrid Diego Simeone meets his counterpart Pep Guardiola, then at Bayern Munich, before the semi-final second leg of the Champions League, May 3, 2016 in Munich GUENTER SCHIFFMANN AFP / Archives

“I am unable to make my teams do this. Diego Simeone streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

"It's the type of match that makes you say: it's not possible, what I see there, it can't be true. We couldn't even get past half the pitch..." , had, for his part, remembered the "Cholo".

"Pep" and "el Cholo", not so different

Suffice to say that, even if Atlético was not on paper the worst opponent for the Sky Blues, the draw for the quarter-finals of the C1 was greeted with fear on the side of City.

"They are what they are but they manage to prevent you from being what you want to be. That's Atlético's greatest quality," summed up Guardiola.

Also stressing that the advantage of the field on the return made the task more difficult, he insisted on his few points in common with Simeone.

Manchester City's Spanish coach Pep Guardiola during the Premier League Round 31 match at Burnley on April 2, 2022 Oli SCARFF AFP

"If he likes not conceding, I like that even more than him. If he likes winning matches, I like that even more than him. If he likes counter-attacking, I'm the same as him,” he assured.

The Argentinian had, for his part, testified to his great admiration for Guardiola, even if the latter had told in 2018 on Movistar that Simeone, who had come to observe his methods long before officiating in Europe, had made him understand very frankly that this was not his way of seeing things at all.

Atletico Madrid's Argentinian coach Diego Simeone, during the home match of the 30th day of LaLiga, on April 2, 2022 at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium JAVIER SORIANO AFP

And Guardiola knows football too well not to know that aesthetic or moral judgments have little place in it: "If they win tomorrow, they will have been right and if we win, we will have been right."

© 2022 AFP