Atletico Madrid head-coach Diego Simeone has said fans will witness only “pure football” in the Champions League final against cross-town rivals Real Madrid on the 29th of May in Milan.
The Argentine spoke to the press as Atleti held an “open doors” session for journalists on Saturday, a week ahead of their Champions League final at the San Siro.
The game is a repeat of the 2014 final at Lisbon, which Atleti lost 4-1 after extra-time.
It may be remembered that Sergio Ramos’ injury time equaliser for Real Madrid in that tense finale paved way for an unlikely fight back by Los Blanco’s as they scored three more goals through Gareth Bale, Marcelo and Cristiano Ronaldo in extra-time to clinch a famous win.
Though we never know as to what waits this time around still Simeone is expecting another “tense and dramatic affair”.
“It will be pure football,” he said, delighted the game will be played at the San Siro.
“I lived there when I played for Inter Milan and it is a spectacular ground. It is tight and the fans are able to pressure and you hear a lot of noise,” he said.
Simeone said he wasn’t expecting Real Madrid to differ their tactics much from the side which defeated Manchester City in the semi-finals and also felt that using Casimiro as a defensive midfielder and playing on the break, would be a ploy that Zinedine Zidane’s team may deploy once more.
“We won’t change our style, we will pressure them as high up the pitch as they let us and play an intense game,” promised Simeone.
Simeone also congratulated Madrid head-coach Zidane on the work he has done since replacing Rafael Benitez at the start of the year, saying it was “important” to reach a Champions League final, which he considered to be “50-50” between the two clubs.
Apart from insisting that Atleti would play their usual brand of intense football still Simeone didn’t give away too many secrets of the team he expects to name in the starting eleven for the grand finale.
