Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, claims he did not criticize Atletico Madrid's approach to their Champions League quarter-final clash.
After a tense match at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano on Wednesday night, City advanced to the semi-finals, and Guardiola was the center of attention.
Guardiola remarked after the game, "Make no mistake, I didn't criticize Atletico." "Attacking against a squad that defends well is always difficult," I added. I didn't expect anything different from Atletico, and as I stated in the press conference, it was a completely different game."
On the night, City were chastised for their time-wasting tactics, which irritated Atletico Madrid, but Guardiola downplayed the situation when asked about his side's antics.
"There were a couple of throw-ins," Guardiola said. "We attempted to seize them. We were at a loss for what to do, and it was a back-and-forth situation.... That was the end of it."
In the Champions League semi-finals, Manchester City will meet Real Madrid, Madrid's other team, and Guardiola expects another tough test of his team's credentials against the 13-time champions.
When questioned about the semi-final, Guardiola responded, "The kings of the competition." "It was only a matter of time before things became more difficult.
"It's the competition's third semi-final. We won't have a chance if we continue to play like we did in the second half. We'll aim to play similarly to how we did in Manchester and in the first half here.
"We had no time to prepare for this game because we had just finished a game. They [Atleti] were excellent. It was a challenging task. We've managed to hang on."
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