Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone admitted that he expects a tactical battle in Wednesday's Champions League semifinal first leg at home to Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich.
Simeone and Guardiola met 10 times as players but have only faced off once on opposite benches -- a 2-1 win for Guardiola's Barcelona at the Estadio Vicente Calderon in May 2013.
Since then, the Argentine has built Atletico into a powerful machine which now regularly competes at the top level in both European competition and La Liga, while Guardiola has moved to Germany where he has had domestic success but not yet European glory with Bayern.
The Colchoneros coach told his pregame news conference that neutrals might think that Pep has more attacking weapons to use, but it was how those weapons were deployed which would decide the tie.
"I imagine a tough game, against a team with many attacking options, against a coach who makes changes continuously during the same game," Simeone said. "They have very many options they can use. We will try and take the game to a place which suits us more. In battles, the side with most soldiers does not win, but those who uses their soldiers better."
The game would not be as simple as Atletico' super-tight defence against Bayern's array of attackers, Simeone said.
"They work very well in both attack and defence," he said. "We have very good statistics in defence, but to go through in the tie you need to score goals. We are looking to do that in tomorrow's game."
Under Simeone, Atletico have won trophies in La Liga, Europa League and Copa del Rey, but they fell short in heartbreaking circumstances when losing the Champions League final to neighbours Real Madrid in 2013.
That experience was similar to Atletico's only other European Cup final -- in 1974 when they were 1-0 ahead in extra-time but Bayern Munich's Schwarzenbeck equalised in the final seconds, and the German side won the replay 4-0.
. @Simeone: "@FCBayern works very well in offence and defence. We will have to score to advance." #AtletiFCB pic.twitter.com/ysTG19LaEN
- Atleti English (@atletienglish) April 26, 2016
The Argentine said he was not considering such history or precedents as he and his team prepared for Wednesday's game.
"We are thinking about what is in play, what we are going to live through, this great opportunity we have," he said. "From there tomorrow we will go out to play. We just focus on winning. I am excited about this big opportunity that we have. In life it is not about revenge, but about new opportunities."
At his own pregame news conference Guardiola said that Simeone's greatest achievement at Atletico was that people all around Europe now saw his team as equal peers to Spain's historic big two of Barcelona and Real Madrid.
"With a lot of work and dedication from many people who are all united and concentrate on just one idea," the Argentine coach said when asked how he had overseen this change in the club's fortunes.
Asked about apparent concerns from Bayern's players about the surface at the Calderon, Simeone said the German side had decided against getting familiar with the pitch by training on it the day before the game.
"I have not seen the pitch, I have not been out there," he said. "They had a chance to come here and train, and they decided not to do that."