Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone admitted his team were "living in fear" of Leicester City before advancing to the Champions League semifinals on Tuesday night.
Atletico led 1-0 from the first leg in Spain and Saul Niguez's first-half goal at the King Power Stadium meant Leicester would need to score three to progress. And though Jamie Vardy got one back on the hour mark, they held off their Premier League opposition.
It was the end of a fairytale run for Leicester, and Simeone said Atletico were never able to relax against them over the two legs.
"I'm full of emotions, full of pride for the performance of my team. Full of hope and excitement as we progress," he said. "But I have to say what a great performance from Leicester it was, almost a pleasure to compete against then.
"They never gave up for one minute. They didn't let their heads drop. We were living in fear all night of what they might achieve. They pushed us all the way."
Leicester boss Craig Shakespeare made two changes at half-time, bringing on Leonardo Ulloa and Ben Chilwell for Shinji Okazaki and Yohan Benalouane, moves that impressed Simeone.
"The changes they made were fantastic," the Atletico boss said. "They managed to get lots of players down the wings, in order to get the ball in high, lots of crosses to Ulloa which caused us problems.
"What we managed to do was almost reinvent ourselves during the game. We performed in the way this match needed us to perform.
"That's what makes me proud -- we always come up with a solution. I don't like to praise too much but we responded and played in the way we needed to."
Atletico have now reached the Champions League semifinals for an astounding third time in four years under Simeone, who took charge in 2011.
But they have never won the title, losing to local rivals Real Madrid in both 2014 and 2016, and could be set to face them again as Los Blancos saw off Bayern Munich in Tuesday's other game.
Simeone said he was happy to make Atletico regular contenders.
"I wanted to make life hard for every team we played," he said. "It's satisfying now to say we are a competitive outfit."