Kieran Trippier Defends Atletico Madrid's Style After Jurgen Klopp Criticism

Atletico Madrid full-back Kieran Trippier has defended the team's style of football following recent criticism from Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.

Klopp took aim at the way Atletico plays after the La Liga side dumped the Reds out of the UEFA Champions League recently, with the Madrid outfit's 3-2 win at Anfield after extra time was enough to put them into the quarter-finals of the competition. 

Speaking about the victory, the Englishman, in his first season with Atleti after starring for Tottenham Hotspur, said his side would have been easily picked off had they not played a defensive style, per David Anderson of the Daily Mirror:

"People have this perception that we're a defensive side, but I think they're getting too carried away with the way we played against Liverpool. If you go there and go toe-to-toe with Liverpool, you're going to get beat 6-0. I don't know what people expect.

"You see pundits complaining because we did defend, but did they expect us to go there and play attacking football, especially with Liverpool playing the way that they're playing at the moment?

"You need to go there with a plan and we did that. We did have to defend, but the most important thing is that we got the win."

Liverpool were in a position to progress into the last eight after Roberto Firmino put them 2-0 ahead in extra time. However, a quickfire brace from Marcos Llorente and a late effort from Alvaro Morata put them 3-2 ahead on the night:

Afterwards, Klopp said that Atletico have a standard of player in their squad that should allow them to play more expansive football, per BT Sport (h/t Goal): "I don't understand, with the quality they have, the football they play. They could play proper football, but they stand deep and have counter-attacks."

While Atletico manager Diego Simeone has set the team up defensively to great effect in the Champions League previously, Liverpool spurned a number of chances to win the game in normal time.

Former Reds forward Michael Owen said after the match that Atletico were fortunate to progress as a result:

Spanish football writer Rik Sharma said that the current Atletico don't measure up to the sides that made the Champions League final in 2014 and 2016:

Following the sales of Antoine Griezmann, Rodri and Diego Godin in the summer, it's not a huge shock that Atletico do have vulnerabilities. Nevertheless, they showed at Anfield that if they have Simeone on the sidelines, they can still get the better of any opponent.

As of yet, it's unclear when their push for Champions League glory will continue, with UEFA suspending all matches in the competition due to the coronavirus pandemic.