Michael Owen has rubbished suggestions Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone pulled off a managerial masterclass against Liverpool.
The LaLiga giants secured a 3-2 win over the Reds at Anfield to progress to the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday.
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Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid stunned Liverpool at Anfield
Ray Parlour slams Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp for criticising Atletico Madrid’s tactics
Jurgen Klopp’s side recorded 34 shots, with 11 hitting the target, as Georginio Wijnaldum’s header took the tie to extra time.
Roberto Firmino eventually doubled the Reds’ advantage, but a Marcos Llorente double and Alvaro Morata goal sealed the hosts’ fate.
Simeone has been lauded for knocking the reigning European champions out, but Owen, who scored 158 goals in 297 appearances for Liverpool between 1996 and 2004, insists the Argentine was not a ‘genius’ at Anfield.
He tweeted: “Please spare me all this inevitable Simeone masterclass nonsense.
“There’s nothing genius about putting 11 top class footballers behind the ball. Liverpool absolutely pumped them throughout.”
Arsenal fan Piers Morgan strongly disagreed with Owen’s tweet as he replied: “Yet somehow, boring defensive Atletico pumped three goals past Liverpool & knocked them out… imagine if they’d bothered to attack you?”
Simeone, who has built his reputation on setting his teams up defensively, had his tactics criticised by Klopp in his post-match press conference.
The German coach said: “The stuff we played here was incredible we know how difficult it can be against Atletico but the boys played a wonderful football game.
“It’s so difficult to play against a side like that. I don’t understand with the quality they have that they play this kind of football, I don’t understand to be honest.
“When I see players like Koke, Saul [Niguez], Llorente, they could play proper football, but they sat deep in their own half and have counter attacks.
“But it’s right, the winner is always right. Okay, they beat us, that’s how it is and we accept that of course, congratulations to Atletico.
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Jurgen Klopp admitted he is a ‘really, really bad loser’ and said Atletico don’t play ‘proper football’
“But it doesn’t feel right tonight to be honest.
“I realise I’m a really, really bad loser! Especially when the boys put such an effort in a game against world class players who defend with two rows of four and two strikers in front – they didn’t have any counter-attacks in the 90 minutes, it was just brilliant from us.
“But in the end we have to accept we lost and we conceded three goals, which is really crazy.”
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