Atletico Madrid President Enrique Cerezo has criticised Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola for his tactics in their quarter final defeat, labelling them as “prehistory football.”
Guardiola’s side battled to a 0-0 draw at the Wanda Metropolitano on Wednesday to progress 1-0 on aggregate in an ill-tempered tie.
While it wasn’t pretty, this will stand to City, who are chasing their first ever Champions League success.
Typically, City are known for their attractive style of play that cuts through teams, while Diego Simeone’s tactics are often aggressive and physical, aiming to frustrate sides.
Guardiola admitted after the game that their performance dropped in the second half but praised the defensive display of his side.
“They pushed us a lot, they were excellent in the second half, we forgot to play.
We were in big, big trouble, they had the chances to score.
We have to adapt because when a team play like Atletico Madrid did in the second half, we could not have the ball.
Our build up was without intention.”
🗣 “We forgot to play.”
Pep Guardiola says his Manchester City side forgot how to play in the second half against Atlético Madrid in the #UCL. pic.twitter.com/R3I8conXnn— Football Daily (@footballdaily) April 13, 2022
However, Cerezo was unhappy with the way City conducted themselves in the second leg, claiming they attempted to time waste during the game and set up defensively.
Speaking to Radio Marca, Atletico Madrid's President Cerezo claimed City showed a different side to their game.
“We are a team that has a lot of status so someone can offend us, but in the end it has been shown that everyone has prehistory.
We played a good game, attacking, and City played prehistory, defending and put a wall in front of their goal so we wouldn’t score.
Everybody has seen it. City was a defensive team. In the second half they shot on goal once. Yesterday it was shown that each one has their prehistory.”
While were City not there attacking flowing selves, the timing of the comments are interesting. Atletico failed to have a shot on goal in the first leg at the Etihad, with only three on target on Wednesday.
The game was overshadowed by the ugly scenes at the end of the game, with Atletico centre back Felipe sent off for kicking out at Phil Foden.
This lead to all players from both sides involved in a scrap, with Stefan Savic and Jack Grealish having to be separated by police in the tunnel.
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