Diego Simeone seems to have found the way to stop all Catalan-based managers...at least in UEFA Champions League matches.
Following their shocking win against Barcelona a couple of weeks ago, Los Colchoneros stopped Bayern Munich's well-oiled machine and handed them a 1-0 defeat at Vicente Calderón Stadium. Simeone's men scored during the first half thanks to a left-footed strike by Saul Niguez, but their display after that goal was simply stunning.
Using almost every trick in the bag, Simeone's men defended their ground and even came close to scoring another goal, but the post denied Fernando Torres a goal during th game's final stretch. Guardiola's crew was unable to break Atlético's ironclad defense, and their chances of winning the treble are slowly slipping away.
Atlético's defensive system proved to be quite effective one more time, as Simeone's men closed the courtain for the 14th time out of 16 matches under the Argentinean boss in UEFA Champions League matches. In fact, Atlético has kept a clean sheet in 135 of Simeone's 236 games in charge, making it clear that Bayern will need more than a smile to make it to the finals, even if the series goes back to Munich next week.
Here's how fans and experts reacted to Atlético's performance today.
Atletico Madrid defending tonight... pic.twitter.com/bRlfuHMqB1
— TheSportsHangout (@Sports_Hangout) April 27, 2016
Diego Simeone... pic.twitter.com/voWexMltCy
— Football Tweets (@FutballTweets) April 27, 2016
Atlético Madrid could be the 3rd different Spanish team to win Champions League in the last 3 years. Best team in the semis so far.
— Grant Wahl (@GrantWahl) April 27, 2016
Sack Wenger & hire Simeone.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) April 27, 2016
NOW. @Arsenal #afc
RT if you believe Simeone is the best manager in the world pic.twitter.com/VYwQImS0Cd
— GeniusFootball (@GeniusFootball) April 27, 2016
Simeone's mobile popped out of his pocket with so much bouncing around the touchline pic.twitter.com/EOoq1dmMLR
— 101 Great Goals (@101greatgoals) April 27, 2016
Simeone recovered Torres and made him better, just don’t ask me how he did it.
— Rafael Hernández (@RafaelH117) April 27, 2016
Simeone going mental at the fans, urging them to be even louder. Think I prefer that in a manager to holding a notebook.
— Andy Mitten (@AndyMitten) April 27, 2016
Will the others teams in La Liga ever catch up & be as competitive as Atletico, Real or Barcelona or that pendelum will never shift?
— Chad Johnson (@ochocinco) April 27, 2016
#FACT - Atlético went through after a 1-0 in european comps in 6 out of 9 ties (including the most recent 3)
— MisterChip (English) (@MisterChiping) April 27, 2016
This was Atletico Madrid's 17th UCL home win. Those victories came against 16 different teams (2x Barcelona) from 14 different countries
— Mr. Numbers (@Mister_Numbers) April 27, 2016
Even Atletico's own Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco celebrated his team-mates' performance.
Que golazo de @saulniguez! Grande equipo, grande Calderon!#AupaAtleti #AtletiBayernpic.twitter.com/zw7t0zBsTt
— Yannick Carrasco (@CarrascoY21) April 27, 2016