Barca put me to sleep, hints Trap

Giovanni Trapattoni has hinted that Barcelona’s style of play “puts me to sleep” after praising Diego Simeone for his Atletico Madrid being “straight to the point”.

Xavi Hernandez earlier argued that he disliked Atleti’s playing style as they “shut up shop”, but the legendary Italian Coach – who won trophies with the likes of Juventus, Inter, Bayern Munich and Benfica – prefers the Argentine’s approach “1,000 times” over an apparent reference to “tiki-taka”.

“I love Simeone, and I don’t think it’s offensive if I say that his character is like mine. My teams had the same philosophy,” the 77-year-old told AS.

“I won’t say any names, but there are teams who play the ball for half an hour without taking a shot. It puts me to sleep!

“I prefer Simeone 1,000 times. He’s someone who plays straight to the point, and [his teams] put on a show through their intensity. To say that [his teams] play wrongly is a big lie.

“My Bayern [Munich] had strength engrained in their DNA to succeed on these big occasions.

“For Simeone, it’ll be a very tough battle, but anything can happen. Ninety minutes is a very long time on Bayern’s pitch.”

Tags Diego Simeone Giovanni Trapattoni
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