Contrasting Styles Pushed to the Limit as Atletico Overcome Bayern

It was an epic night that pushed everyone right to the limit, and fittingly crackled with tension right until the final second, but ultimately only showed how unbending everything about a Diego Simeone side is. 

After Atletico Madrid’s 2-2 away-goal win over Bayern Munich, to reach the third Champions League final in their history, but second in just three years under the Argentine, he declared an effective mission statement: “Our identity is non-negotiable,” Simeone proclaimed. “Regardless of the situation we move forward.” Bayern are again stopped at the semi-finals, however, once more leading to momentous questions about Pep Guardiola’s identity as a coach. 

He will not now bring the Champions League back to Munich before leaving, nor depart with what would have been a record-equalling third trophy, as Simeone can claim his and Atletico’s first. Those stakes have somewhat understandably led to arguments that the Catalan has been a failure at Bayern, given he did not deliver the cup they so wanted, but it would be much less understandable to declare it a failure of a philosophy. 

That should really be impossible to conclude when everything in this cup tie remained so on edge until the end, when big chances were missed, and both sides missed penalties. The tiniest of margins and moments could have led to gigantic swings, and how would that have changed perceptions of both. 

Had Robert Lewandowski turned in that late chance, or had Yannick Carrasco’s misplaced ball led to a stunning last-minute Bayern winner, should it really have led to such dramatically different conclusions? 

This was not a referendum on either style, with only binary black and white outcomes possible. It was a grand clash between two opposing philosophies, however, and that is why discussion should not be simplistic. It certainly wasn’t simple for either side, as Simeone made clear afterwards. 

"The end of the match was great for fans watching on TV," he said with heavy relief, and the implication that it was for from enjoyable for those involved. That tends to happen when you have a contest of such a high concentration of contrasting qualities, though. That’s what this really was. The top level of the game, between approaches at either end of the tactical spectrum. 

Simeone admitted that Bayern pushed them to the edge, in what was a near perfect attacking first-half performance - bar Thomas Muller’s penalty miss. "Few times have I seen a team play so precise and intense like Bayern did in the first half," the Atletico manager said. 

"In that first half, Bayern did everything they could do. It is truly marvellous to see a team that had such continuity in their play." This was not just being nice about a beaten opposing manager. The numbers emphasised his point. Atletico gave up a total of 11 shots in this leg, and that compromised a competition high for Simeone’s team. Given that Bayern only managed seven in the first game, this showed that they had picked up the speed and the intensity in the way Guardiola demanded. 

Through various points in the first half, it looked like they would run away with the tie, and that by overrunning this previously impenetrable Simeone defence, they were back to their best - but that only brought out the best in Atletico too. They were not as concrete as in the first game, only making 22 tackles compared to the previous 37 as they couldn’t get as close to the Bayern attackers, but they were as committed - and as cutting. 

"At half time, I appealed to their pride," Simeone revealed, "to do what has helped us get to this stage. We were able to start finding ourselves after the PK that Oblak saves. We regrouped in the dressing room." Then, Antoine Griezmann so easily ran through the Bayern half to claim the decisive goal. This should bring the real criticism of Guardiola, and points to a consistent flaw in his management, going right back to his best Barcelona teams. 

For all the high sophistication of his attacking game, it is remarkable how it can be beaten by the most basic of responses: a punt and knock-down. It’s something we’ve seen repeatedly. A classic example came in one of his great wins. Even before Leo Messi hit four goals for Barcelona in the 2009/10 quarter-final second leg against Arsenal, there were a few minutes of anxiety because Nicklas Bendtner - of all players - had so easily exposed the 2009 champions’ backline.  

Of course, Guardiola is undeniably aware of this, but evidently feels the reward will far outweigh the risk. He estimates that the high defensive line will bring more goals for his team than against them, and make them generally play better in the long run. It is clearly a calculated risk, but just looks so monumentally clumsy when exposed, and brings questions over why he doesn’t even look to counter this a little more solidly. 

The fact is it ended up costing him at the highest level again. And yet, still, Bayern came so close to obliterating that risk. They were inches from becoming just the second side this season to put three goals past Atletico in one game, and were still only the fifth side to score two against them this campaign. 

As Simeone admitted, they tested Atletico like no-one else. That’s what this was: a fittingly grandiose match from a grand clash of ideologies; the best defence against the best attack, with both pushing each other to the limit. It does mean that Guardiola’s time at Bayern did not conclude in the best manner, and there are fair questions about why he couldn’t win that Champions League over the course of three years.  

As an individual tie, though, this was somewhat separate to that. It may just mean, however, that Simeone has usurped Guardiola as the best manager in the world. He has the chance for tangible confirmation of that later this month.

Can Atletico now go on to win the Champions League? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below