Man City vs Atletico Madrid news: Can Simeone stun Pep again in the Champions League?
Revenge will be a dish best served cold for Pep Guardiola who saw Diego Simeone's Atletico eliminate his Bayern side at the semi-final stage.
Last year's beaten finalists Manchester City are big favourites to win the first leg of this Champions League quarter-final as they look to go one better this season.
Diego Simeone's side haven't been as strong in defence as they usually are this season, but they'll bring all their dark arts with them back to Manchester having earned a 1-0 win at Old Trafford to get through the last round.
And the pressure of knowing just what Simeone will bring may force him to do it again. However, he'd be wise to stick to his tried and tested line-up and just guard against the storm of petulance the arch wind-up merchants Atletico will throw at them.
There's no away goals this time for Simeone, which is how his Atleti knocked Pep's Bayern out in the semi-finals in 2016. Across the 2-2 aggregate draw, the Spanish side had just 27% possession and 18 shots to Munich's 53.
When: Tuesday, April 5, 19:45 BST
Where: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Where to watch: BT Sport 2
Who is the referee for Man City vs Atletico Madrid?
Recent form
In the Champions League, City have only lost one of their last seven knockout games, although it was last year's final defeat against Chelsea.
"I'm not going to talk one second about these stupid debates!"
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) April 4, 2022
Pep Guardiola has rubbished talks about the style of football Diego Simeone's Atlético Madrid play 👇 pic.twitter.com/oGUwmvAwX6
Man Utd did show you can get after this Atletico side though and overall they've conceded far more goals than usual in La Liga this season - far more than Real Madrid and even Barcelona.
Players in form
Kevin De Bruyne has had his scoring boots on of late as well with four goals in his last four starts and with Atleti's deep-lying defensive structure, watch out for the Belgian taking plenty of pot shots.
For Atleti, Antoine Griezmann is their all-time leading Champions League scorer and also has four in his last six, including scoring twice against Liverpool in the group stages.
Joao Felix looked a talent against Man Utd and he's got a knack for scoring early on in games, with seven of the 11 goals he's notched this season being the first goal of the match.
Manager's thoughts
Man City boss Pep Guardiola was in a particularly sarcastic mood in his pre-match press conference when quizzed on his previous record of making questionable selections in the Champions League.
"In the Champions League always I overthink. New tactics, tomorrow you will see a new one. We will play with 12 tomorrow!
🗣 “That’s why I love to overthink and create stupid tactics.”
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) April 4, 2022
Pep Guardiola responds to claims that he overthinks the big games ahead of their #UCL clash with Atlético Madrid. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/tJaVd8vU7t
Predicted Man City vs Atletico Madrid teams
Man City are still missing Ruben Dias and will hope to have John Stones fit to play again at the heart of the defence.
With Kyle Walker still suspended, Guardiola could opt to play Stones at right-back as he did against Sporting Lisbon, or switch Joao Cancelo and bring in Oleksandr Zinchenko on the left.
Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez will likely start after being on the bench at Burnley. Phil Foden came off after an hour at Turf Moor so may well start though Jack Grealish could get the nod having remained on the bench.
Simeone has Koke and Angel Correa back from domestic suspension. Griezmann is expected to partner Felix up front despite Luis Suarez banging in two goals during a half-hour cameo from the bench at the weekend.
Man City possible line-up: Ederson, Cancelo, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko, Gundogan, Rodri, De Bruyne, Silva, Foden, Mahrez.
Atletico Madrid possible line-up: Oblak, Llorente, Savic, Mandava, Hermoso, Lodi, De Paul, Kondogbia, Koke, Felix, Griezmann.
Man City vs Atletico Madrid prediction
Atletico will try to make this as scrappy as possible, you know what you're getting with them in big knockout games. Putting City off their passing rhythm will be priority number one.
So it's a night for cool heads for City to avoid getting drawn into a street fight. If they take their eyes off the ball then Atletico have more than enough firepower to put any chances away clinically.