Diego Simeone aims dig at Pep Guardiola and walks out after Real Madrid question

Diego Simeone took a subtle pop at Pep Guardiola after Atletico Madrid’s Champions League defeat to Manchester City before walking out of his press conference after a question about Real Madrid.

Atletico were unable to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit at the Wanda Metropolitano on Wednesday night, with a goalless draw overshadowed by an on-pitch melee that carried over into the tunnel at full-time.

The match was billed as a clash of styles beforehand: the creative, possession football of City against the defensive rough and tumble of Atleti – though Guardiola was always keen to avoid talking about his opponents in such a reductive way.

But now Simeone has suggested he might have been put out by some of Guardiola’s comments in the past even if the City boss never outright criticised Atletico’s style of play.

Asked if he feels Guardiola has disrespected him as a coach, and his Atletico side, Simeone replied: ‘I don’t have to have that sort of opinion. I don’t think he will talk badly or talk well.

‘Often, people who talk really well, and are really clever, they manage to praise you with contempt. But those of us who perhaps have a smaller vocabulary are not so stupid either.’

At one point Simeone appeared to ironically applaud the City dugout as they ran down the clock on Wednesday night but he rejected suggestions he was highlighting that Guardiola was using a tactic right out of the Atletico playbook.

He continued: ‘I never applauded the rival bench or our rivals, I was applauding our fans in one side of the stadium and the other side of the stadium. I was applauding everyone who was behind us for the whole of the 90 minutes and I wanted to give them my thanks.

‘Our players were giving the people that energy and the