Diego Simeone vs Pep Guardiola, Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich – a Champions League semifinal that will test the best defensive team in the tournament to the hilt, while bringing the best out of the most talented attacking side.
Both teams come into this semifinal first leg in top form, with Atletico Madrid winning all five of their last matches, while Bayern are unbeaten in 11 games, winning nine of them. Both teams are in with a really good chance of winning their domestic league titles as well. While Bayern will win the Bundesliga with another victory, Atletico are level on points with Barcelona with three games to go.
The fact that both sides go about winning matches in completely different ways should make this match quite entertaining.
"We have to be thinking about one thing – winning," Diego Simeone, the Atletico Madrid manager, told UEFA's official website. "I'm expecting a hard match against an opponent with a lot of attacking potential, against a coach who changes from game to game.
"We will try to take the game into our hands where and when we can. It will be an important match in terms of the tie as a whole.
"Obviously we have a coach and players with different characteristics. But in wars, it isn't the side with the most soldiers that wins, rather the side that uses its soldiers better. I want my side to win, nothing more."
Nobody uses the resources available to him better than Simeone, and having knocked the holders Barcelona in the Champions League quarterfinals, nobody will be surprised if they end up doing the same thing to Bayern Munich.
The Bayern players, though, will be extra motivated for this tie, as they look to give Guardiola the perfect sendoff. The Spaniard will take over at Manchester City next season, making this his last opportunity to win the European title with Bayern. The key, as it always is, will be to find that away goal, even if is easier said than done, considering Atletico haven't conceded in 422 minutes.
"When Atletico play against the big European clubs they can confound the favourites," Guardiola, who ran into Atletico plenty of times during his time with Barcelona, said. "Simeone has managed to achieve big things. It will be a great game, complete and fun at the same time, and we'll do all we can to get the final.
"Atleti do many things. It's been five years since I was involved against them, but from what I've seen and what people say they defend well, though that's not all they do. They're extremely well organised, Koke takes a mean dead ball, they've got a good structure defensively, they close space, they have a great counterattack."
Where to Watch Live
The Champions League semifinal between Atletico Madrid and Bayern Munich is scheduled for an 8.45 pm CET (7.45 pm GMT, 2.45 pm ET, 12.15 am IST) start. Ten 2 and Ten 1 HD will broadcast the Champions League match live in India on TV. Viewers in India and the subcontinent can also watch the match live online by live streaming on Tensports Live.
Audience in Spain, France, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, Canada, the Middle East and North Africa can watch the game live on TV on Bein Sports, with the live stream option on Bein Sports Connect.
Viewers in Germany can watch Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich live on Sky Sport 1 HD, while the live stream option is on Sky Go Germany.
Audience in China can watch the UEFA Champions League semifinal first leg live on PPTV Sports, QQ Sports and LeTV.
BT Sport Europe is the channel to watch to catch the match live in the UK, with the online live streaming option on Watch BT Sport.
Fox Sports 1 will show the UCL game live in the US, while the semifinal can also be live streamed online on FoxSoccer2Go.
