The night that Simeone desperate Guardiola

The top club competition brings Simeone and Guardiola back together, on April 5 at the Etihad Stadium and on the 13th of the same month at the Wanda Metropolitano.

The Champions League returns to cross Diego Pablo Simeone and Pep Guardiola. Both keep a night in their memory: that of May 3, 2016, when the rojiblanco team beat Bayern Munich in Guardiola in an unusual defensive resistance exercise that took them to the final in Milan.

“I always think that if you attack well you can find some space,” he explained. Guardiola about that night in the documentary about Simeone which premiered a few weeks ago on the ‘Amazon Prime Video’ platform.

For 90 minutes, the mighty Bayern directed by the Catalan coach -with Robert Lewandowski, Franck Ribery, Douglas Costa and Thomas Müller in the attack – he only found two: a direct free kick that he scored Xabi Alonso and a header from Lewandowski.

But Athleticwho spent most of the match taking refuge in his defense and draining leaks everywhere, found one: a counterattack in which Fernando Torres put up a pass into the hole to Griezmannwho covered almost half the field to stand before Manuel Neuer and make it 1-1. And it was enough.

Lewandowski would later make it 2-1, but it would be in vain since the goal of Griezmann had double value, being both in a rival field in a tied tie -which came from a 1-0 rojiblanco at the Vicente Calderón, a great goal from Saul Niguez– and meant the pass to the final in Milan.

The official statistics of the UEFA of that game are expressive: 68% of possession for the Bayern for 32% of Athletic34 shots from the German team (7 from Athletic), of which 12 went on goal (4 from the red-and-white team). 591 team passes completed Guardiola for 154 of those of Simeone.

“I am incapable of doing that to my teams, incapable. But I admire him. That capacity for resistance, for resistance, because at some point the bee is going to sting you,” Guardiola reveals in that same documentary.

As well Simeone -who this Friday expressed his admiration for the Catalan coach of the Manchester CityHe remembers that meeting with anguish. “It’s those games that you say: it’s not true, what I’m seeing can’t be true, we can’t cross the middle of the field,” explains the ‘cholos‘ in the audiovisual.

The Athletic made 36 tackles on the Allianz Arena that night, to 9 of his rival, and recovered 47 balls, compared to 37 of the Bayern.

“The feeling was that we were playing a different sport,” recalls the captain of that team, Gabi Fernandez, years later. “The worst game of my life”, agrees Boil. “It is the game in which I have felt the most superiority of the rival in my entire career,” he adds. Fernando Torres.

But Athletic I pass. And he appeared in the final in Milan in which he had within his reach the first title of the Champions League of its history, which escaped with the penalty missed by Juanfran Torres in the final round, although it could have arrived earlier if Griezmann he would have scored one he had in the second part of the match.

That crossing is not the only confrontation between Simeone and Guardiola, who also shared a league match in February 2012. The cholo’ He had barely been in charge of the rojiblanco team for less than two months, and Guardiola faced the end of his last campaign of his successful stage in ‘Can Barça’.

Even so, the rojiblanco team stood up to the Vicente Calderón. Dani Alves advanced to Barcelona at minute 35, and Radamel Falcao equalized the duel around the break. The duel was resolved by the usual executioner of the Athletic: Lionel Messiwith a goal from a direct free kick just over ten minutes from the end.

The Champions League rejoin to Simeone and Guardiola. On April 5 at the Etihad Stadium and on the 13th of the same month at the Wanda Metropolitano. The technician of the City how to deal with the resilience of the Athletic from Simeonewho this season is not nearly as reliable in his defense as the one who overcame the Allianz Arena siege.

–