London, Mar 18 (IANS): Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has warned his club, saying Atletico Madrid are a tough side and capable of beating any team in the world. The City boss added that the second leg of the Champions League in Madrid will be particularly tough as Atletico have defeated Manchester United with their incredibly tough play.
Man City will take on the La Liga side in the quarter-finals and Guardiola said, "What can I say? They went through an incredibly tough group stage. In Madrid they were fantastic, and again here (in Manchester) they showed their class," Pep Guardiola said in a press conference on Friday.
"You try to impose your game, but sometimes it is difficult. Playing the second leg away is more complicated. But these are the best eight teams in Europe. All roads are difficult," he added.
Guardiola says that City and Atletico may be different in many ways, but in some ways, both sides are also very similar.
"If Simeone likes not conceding goals, I like it more than him. And I like counter-attacking, as he does. I am sometimes not able to do things but both teams concede a few goals and concede few chances," said Guardiola.
"They defend deeper maybe, but some moments they press high. Against United in the first 20 minutes, United could not breathe. I saw the game against United in the second leg and the way they had tempo they can use the counter-attack.
"They are doing that for many years -- maybe one decade. They reached the final of the Champions League but for one minute, they didn't win it. They play to win and we play to win. We know it will be hard to impose our game because they are good at that," he said.
"They compete to win titles. They had success and everyone knows what is their path. The players know what they have to do. That's why they were incredibly consistent in the last year.
"We have to be clever, wait for the right moment. It doesn't matter, we play another opponent in the quarter-final and it would be tough," the 51-year-old Spanish coach told the club's official website.
Guardiola refused to look beyond Atleti, adding that the fact City could play either Chelsea or Real Madrid in the semi-final was immaterial.
"We have tough work to do with Atletico Madrid before we think of the next round," he said. "I will not answer."