Atletico Madrid reached their second Champions League final in three years as they knocked out Bayern Munich on away goals despite losing the semifinal second leg 2-1 at the Allianz Arena.
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The Argentinian has led Atletico to a La Liga title, a Copa del Rey triumph and a Europa League win as well as a second Champions League final after seeing off Bayern Munich in the semi-finals on Tuesday.
Xabi Alonso levelled the tie with a deflected free-kick in the first half, but Antoine Griezmann scored a huge away goal on the break for Atletico after Thomas Muller had been denied from the penalty spot.
Bayern’s Poland striker Robert Lewandowski set up a dramatic finale with his 74th minute goal before Atletico’s Fernando Torres had an 85th minute spot kick saved by Manuel Neuer.
The good news though, is that the Arabian owners of Manchester City still thinks he is the best manager in the world who can win them the champions league in his first year.
Still Bayern needed only one goal to progress – and had five minutes of added time to score it. But Atletico survived, sparking wild celebrations among Simeone and his players.
“This Champions League is spectacular, very hard”.
“[The game was] very intense and we’re so proud of this team and this group of players and it’s fully deserved”.
“I really have to say we played against the best team I have faced in my whole career, it was unbelievable how they played”, said Simeone.
But as much as Atletico flooded their own half, and Bayern missed a few half-chances around the penalty area, it was the Spaniards who could have settled the tie with seven minutes left.
A glance at the records of the likes of Barcelona post-Guardiola, Real Madrid, the Manchester clubs or any European big gun shows that Guardiola’s record is not one to be dismissed.
Mueller and fellow German worldwide Jerome Boateng came in along with Franck Ribery as Guardiola made three changes to the team that started last Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat in the first leg in Madrid. This time it was Neuer who rejected Torres.
“The second half was more even. We did a super counter-attack for the goal and that allowed us to get that advantage”.
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“I wasn’t happy [conceding]”.
