Guardiola in awe of Atletico's culture
Apr 26, 2016 - 8:04 PM Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola has praised his Atletico Madrid counterpart Diego Simeone before Wednesday's Champions League semi-final for being able to compete with Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona.Simeone led Atletico to a first La Liga title for 18 years in 2014, after winning the Europa League and King's Cup in preceding seasons, and they are now in second place, level on points with Barca and a point above Real with three games left.
They also knocked Guardiola's former club Barcelona, the Champions League favourites and holders, out of this season's competition in the quarter-finals.
"The best title Atletico have achieved is that they are compared with Barcelona and Madrid. That's Simeone's greatest achievement," Guardiola said on Tuesday.
"What they show is their consistency, that's the most difficult thing, to win, win win. Normally only big teams do that, play three different competitions, game after game and win, win, win.
"The most difficult thing in sport is to win year on year. Anyone can win one year but to keep themselves at the top, that's impressive."
Bayern's only doubt for the game in Madrid concerns defender Jerome Boateng, who has not featured since injuring his groin in January but has resumed training.
One of the defining images of Bayern's semi-final, first leg defeat by Barcelona last season was Boateng falling over as he failed to stop Lionel Messi scoring the second goal in a 3-0 win, but Guardiola backed the German international.
Source: AAP
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