He complained that Guardiola could not do this or that, but Gua said: He will become a great instrument in the future

Shortly before taking over as Atletico Madrid in 2011, Diego Simeone travelled to Barcelona to see how Guardiola's side trained.

The two delved into the details of the game, from where the high-pressure rush was to be pressed, how to attack in a small space, and so on. A lot of people will be attracted to such learning opportunities and compliment Barca, but Simeone is not like this, "I don't agree with this, I don't like this".

Although Simeone was not conquered by his own philosophy of football, Guardiola was impressed by Simeone, and in the latest documentary about Simeone, Guardiola said: "This son of a bitch must be a big man." ”

Simeone has not only become a big man, he must also be regarded as one of the greatest coaches of the last decade, and is one of the most unique presences, he has promoted a second-tier team to the top and become an anti-trend figure.

While Guardiola defined modern football overwhelmingly, profoundly influencing the way football is played, Simeone defined another kind of football, he succeeded Mourinho, improved on Mourinho's foundation, and became the high priestess of anti-possessionism.

Before this clash in the early hours of this morning, the only time the two met in the Champions League was in the 2015-2016 Champions League semi-finals, where Guardiola's Bayern played Simeone's Atletico.

Guardiola is almost overloaded with research on how to find space, because Simeone is a coach who is more obsessed with blocking space than anyone else.

Players were surprised by Simeone's proposed training to "simulate a variety of possible scenarios," meaning they had defensive practice for almost every possible offense. If a full-back makes a specific move – say today against Joao Cancelo – where atletico's full-back should go, these are pre-match rehearsals.

Completing complex plans with simple instructions is Atletico's philosophy. "I learned a lot at Atletico," Toby Alderweireld said a few years ago, "and one of the lessons is persistence: if you have a high ball, never top it down, but up top it." This gives your teammates more time to get close to the ball. ”

In the first leg of the 2015-2016 Champions League semi-final, Guardiola abandoned Thomas Muller, and he was criticized for it. More decisive, however, was Simeone's strategy of using four midfielders in the middle of a deliberately sloppy pitch. Bayern were unable to make progress and Atletico scored a necessary breakthrough through a brilliant performance by Saul Niggoz, ending up with a small 1-0 win.

Guardiola had to come up with something. Guillem Balague's book Another Way to Win shows Guardiola once again obsessing over it, wondering how to "unravel Europe's most complex defensive system" without affecting his own team.

Atletico's Fernando Torres said in The Race of Life: "It's a better game than any in my career and I feel like the opponents are so superior. ”

Bayern took the lead with a free-kick by Javi Alonso and three minutes later, Martinez created a penalty, but Müller's penalty was saved by Oblak.

Guardiola thinks his team is playing well and they are almost perfect. He didn't even need to tell them anything at half-time — except for one instruction. This is actually a reiteration.

Guardiola said: "Don't go inside, always on the outside, otherwise once we lose the ball there they can immediately fight back against us. ”

And then what happened? In the 54th minute, Jerome Boateng's long pass was hoisted into the box and his pass was intercepted. Antoine Griezmann took the ball one-on-one.

Simeone's thought process in that moment summed it up: "Please be sure to score, because I don't know if we're going to have another chance. ”

Griezmann equalised in the second leg.

Robert Lewandowski responded with a header in the 74th minute and Atletico were left with the advantage of scoring more goals away from home.

It's all-out offense versus all-out defense.

Simone said: "I couldn't believe what I saw, we couldn't even cross the midfield line. Cork described it as "the worst game I've ever experienced" and Diego Godin described it as "a serious way of suffering.".

Simeone has one of the best descriptions: "Our forbidden zone is a trench – but without a hint of shame." ”

Atletico dug three feet into the ground. Bayern, after putting everything in, was eliminated.

After the match, Simeone was full of praise for his opponents.

"I really fell in love with this game... I fell in love with that Bayern. We can't respond to their style of football. I must say that I played against the best team I have ever faced as a coach. It was an amazing Bayern. But we were under pressure and we won the game. ”

Guardiola told his players and staff that it was indeed one of his best performances ever.

Guardiola said in that documentary he would never be able to play the Simeone way. "I can't do that to my team, never, but I admire that ability to resist, resist, resist, know that at some point bees can sting."

The existence of a coach like Simeone is the condition why Guardiola always "has a tactical attack" at a certain moment. Perfectionists are always obsessed with what else he can do, what small adjustments can make all the difference.

It is because of their existence that football has become more interesting.