Atletico captain Koke has responded to Pep Guardiola’s comments about his side’s formation following their 1-0 defeat to the Premier League giants on Tuesday evening.
Guardiola’s side emerge victorious in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final at the Etihad Stadium after Kevin De Bruyne secured a 70th-minute winner.
The Manchester City boss vented his frustration after the game by saying it is very difficult to attack against a 5-5-0 formation, both in the present day and in prehistoric times.
Guardiola shared his thoughts after the game by saying: ‘He [Diego Simeone] has put Griezmann on the far right and Joao Felix on the far left, and they have gone 5-5-0. Two lines of 5.
‘And in prehistory, today and in a hundred thousand years, attacking a 5-5 is very difficult. It is that there is no space. Apart from the fact that they are very competitive and defend very well, there is no space’.
Guardiola’s comments did not sit well with Koke, who took to Instagram to respond. He shared a photo of the Atletico badge on his Instagram story with the following caption: ‘In love with your story since prehistory. Proud to be from Atleti’.
Guardiola expects Atletico – who did not register a single shot on goal – to show more adventure next week, although Simeone maintained his team should not be ’embarrassed’ to defend resolutely and bide their time.
‘We played an extraordinary opponent,’ he said. ‘The stats speak for themselves. They are very dynamic. We want to go through with the tools at our disposal that we have. We defended really well, a massive collective effort. We could’ve attacked a bit better on the counter attack.
‘Let’s see if we can have the ball a bit more and create more difficulty for our opponents but that comes with being calm and having the collective defensive effort. I’ve been shown how to compete until the end in any way you can.’
While Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak added: ‘You don’t have to go crazy because it’s a long game. You have to be cold-blooded and take the chances that we are going to have.
‘Any team who played here today would have played the same as us. Give them space and they can punish you. In Madrid we’re going to have to do that bit more offensively. That is the only way we can go through.’