Diego Simeone has hit back strongly after Pep Guardiola mentioned 'prehistory' when discussing Atletico Madrid's tactics in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final vs Manchester City.
Atletico were extremely defensive at the Etihad and failed to have a shot on goal in their 1-0 defeat, but Simeone and his players insisted after the game that they had a game plan and were still capable of reaching the semi-finals.
In one interview, Guardiola said of that defensive approach: "They have gone 5-5-0. Two lines of five. 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.”
