Diego Simeone sees kinship with Leicester City but will show no mercy

And so they meet, these two who achieved the impossible. Leicester City were the team everyone wanted in the Champions League quarter-final but sometimes you should be careful what you wish for, and Atlético Madrid know that better than anyone. Once it was they who everyone wanted, but not any more. Opponents found out the hard way; now they want to avoid them at all costs. The club who celebrated their centenary with a song that lauded “What a way to suffer!” did a Leicester before Leicester did. And they did not stop there.

They are not the same. But at Atlético there is a sense that they share something with their opponents. Leicester’s title was followed with fascination and fondness in Spain. When, incredibly, it actually happened, it was celebrated. It also provoked recurring questions, asked amongst themselves and posed to the English. Could it ever happen here? And what would the equivalent be? Well, here is the thing: maybe Atlético winning the league was just that, back in 2014.

The truth is there is no exact equivalent – there is a reason that Jamie Vardy’s story is heading to Hollywood, and we all know the odds: 5,000-1. The histories of these two clubs are different too, even as they share a stage here. At the front of the room at the Vicente Calderón, Kasper Schmeichel recalled the “journey”, passing through lower leagues to the top of the Premier League, Leicester’s solitary title success, to accompany three League Cups; at the back, a board on the wall detailed Atlético’s trophies. There are 24 of them, including 10 leagues, 10 cups and three European titles.

Through the doors, where Leicester trained, an arena living its final days: a historic, soon-to-be-demolished home that holds 55,000. Atlético are the third biggest club in Spain and should, in theory, hold aspirations well beyond Leicester’s. Yet there are parallels and the comparison is not so crazy. Atlético won the Copa del Rey, at the Bernabéu against Real Madrid, who they had not beaten in 14 years, then won the league title at the Camp Nou, ahead of two giants with budgets five times theirs – a gap bigger than the one that separated Leicester from Chelsea, Manchester United or Manchester City.

Antoine Griezmann said it, Filipe Luís said it and Jan Oblak said it, too: Leicester are similar to Atlético, both for what they have done – and they more than most teams in this competition appreciate that – and for how they play. Strong, physical, well organised. Difficult to overcome defensively, and swift to counter‑attack, direct. As one opposition coach here at the Calderón put it: “Horrible bastards to play against.”

The former Chelsea full-back Filipe Luís said: “When I was in England Leicester were in a very different situation. [Now] they’re a very solid team that defends very well and reminds us of Atlético.” That could prove problematic, he conceded: “Maybe we can play better against these teams, Barcelona and Real Madrid, because they have the ball and control the game [whereas] when we have to initiate it’s not easy.”

Diego Simeone, the Atlético manager, suggested there would not be many goals but when it was put to him that Leicester might “renounce” possession (the implication being “just like you”), he responded: “I don’t think they will renounce the ball, I think they choose to play the way that suits them best consisting the qualities of the players. With the explosiveness of Vardy, who I like a lot, they are vertical, intense, precise at times. They strengthen the qualities of their players and that is what took them to their place in Europe.”

It is, he insisted, what he does too; what has taken Atlético to their current place. He welcomed the idea that Atlético may have provided a model for other clubs, like Leicester, to follow. A club who challenged the status quo and opened other paths. “Football is wonderful because no one is right: there’s no absolute truth. Maybe other teams have looked at us and thought that.”

Sitting alongside him Atlético’s captain, Gabi Fernández, cited “the humility and ambition we both play with” and added: “They did something very important last year, winning the league, like we did. We’re proud to face them tomorrow.”

Craig Shakespeare was proud, too. “If they say that, it’s a huge compliment,” the Leicester manager said. “We know what we are about. It’s about the team ethic – and that’s one of Atlético’s strengths. It’s a nice comparison.”

If it could be maintained, it would be nicer yet. This European adventure is a one-off for Leicester. For Atlético, it is not. They are in their fourth consecutive quarter-final, another measure of their extraordinary success. They have been in two finals in three years, yet the European Cup is not on that board. Those finals against Real still sting and they want to go back and try to win the trophy with the big ears for a first time, like Leicester. “These are the days you live for,” Schmeichel said.

At the end of the press conference, Simeone was asked if there was anything he would like to do before he eventually leaves Atlético. “Yes,” he smiled, getting up to go, “win tomorrow.” That is another thing they have in common.

• This article was corrected on 12 April 2017 to reflect the fact that Leicester have won three League Cups as well as one Premier League title.