Diego Simeone makes feelings known when asked if Pep Guardiola disrespected him

Diego Simeone offered a cryptic response when quizzed on whether Pep Guardiola had disrespected him

The Atletico Madrid boss could not mastermind a second-leg comeback in their Champions League last eight tie. His team produced every trick in the book, some of them not so endearing, as the latter stages of the game descended into a mass brawl with a red card shown to Felipe.

City brought with them a first-leg advantage from the Etihad after Kevin De Bruyne scored what turned out to be the decisive goal of the tie. The quarter-final was billed as a massive clash in styles. Guardiola's possession-based, dominant approach against Simeone's defensive sucker punch.

The pair had met before in Europe, with Simeone edging it in 2016, but this time the City boss was victorious in an incredibly hostile Wanda Metropolitano atmosphere. The Argentine was asked if he felt his counterpart was in any way disrespectful, but seemed to pour water on that school of thought whilst suggesting some of Guardiola's comments have wrangled him.

Simeone said: "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."

City were forced to dig deep in the second-half as they held onto their one-goal lead. Atletico were seeking an equaliser which saw the visitors veer away from their usual style. Simeone was asked if he felt the English side adopted some of his tactics and replied: "I think football has a lot of different facets and it’s not my place to say if our rivals were playing well or not, or what kind of football they were playing."