Atletico Madrid's former Burnley defender Kieran Trippier controls the ball during the UEFA Champions league Round of 16 second leg football match between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid at Anfield in Liverpool

Atleti, and boss Diego Simeone, came in for criticism for their defensive set up against Liverpool in their last 16 tie, but won both legs to advance 4-2 on aggregate.

Reds boss Jurgen Klopp said after the second leg: "I don’t understand with the quality they have, the football they play. They could play proper football but they stand deep and have counterattacks."

Dyche has never been a zealot to any particular brand of football - only to try and win.

And he admired the way Atletico Madrid - including former Clarets right back Kieran Trippier - were able to find a way to progress to the last eight.

He said: "I was impressed with them - I always am.

"Simeone is very good at what he does and makes no qualms about it.

"I don’t know about that (the Spanish Burnley) - he’s been doing it a bit longer than me I think.

"Going to Anfield, we all know it’s a tough task, so to go there and find a way is a great credit to them.

"People forget the goalkeeper is allowed to play well, so are the defenders, they're allowed to tackle and break the play up.

"And they’re allowed to go and score goals.

"They did all that.

"And sometimes that’s what you’ve got to go and do.

"I think it’s refreshing at this level to see them digging in and fighting and all that.

"We’ve had to do that many times. And we’ll have to do it again."

Dyche is a fan of mixed play, and wasn't being drawn into the debate over style and substance: "I'm not getting involved in that – all I’ll say is that the game is a marvellous game because of all the different styles.

"If everyone played the same way, eventually it would get methodical slow and indifferent.

"That can bring apathy. I like the diversity of football, I think It’s a good thing to have.

"Against popular belief, if you watch La Liga, for all everyone talks about Barca, outside of those top three or four clubs, everyone plays mixed football.

"You don’t have to scratch far beneath the surface to see varying styles of football across the world. And I think that’s good for the game.”

Burnley go to Manchester City on Saturday to take on Pep Guardiola's side knowing they will likely be without the ball for vast swathes of the game.

But Manchester United accepted that fact and delivered a performance to beat their city rivals for a third time this season on Sunday.

It wasn't the swashbuckling United of old, but Dyche said: "Even at that level, teams are becoming slightly different in their thinking of different ways to win.

"I think it’s quite good that Ole is earning his spurs and he’s thinking ‘all right – what do we need to do to win?’ and he’s thinking that the result is more important than just playing well.

"I think teams are becoming slightly more open to that and thinking ‘what do we need to do to win?’.

"And if teams like Manchester United can think like that then there’s no reason why we can’t either.

"So even clubs like United – with the players they’ve got and the manager they’ve got – on this occasion thought “ok they’ve got the ball – but as long as we do the things we want to do without the ball, we’ve still got players who can affect the game’. And they did.”

City won't be retaining their Premier League title, having lost a quarter of their 28 league games to date.

Dyche feels they have felt the loss of players like Vincent Kompany, who left in the summer, and Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane, who have missed most of the season through injury: "Some of the managers are so good at their jobs, on balance it’s good to see us managers who are still working and learning, that even when they lose important players and good players, they find it tough.

"And I think City have lost important players. I personally think Laporte is one of the best centre halves around. and he’s been a big loss.

"They’ve had dips and ups and downs. Lots of games, lots of requirements.

"Then they have another team down the road who are playing out of their skin.

"So I think it’s a slightly more refreshing twist that even the best of the best have trouble when they’ve got injuries and the ups and downs of football, they do find it difficult

" That’s just a refreshing view of management because it is very difficult.

"Unless you have all of your players, all the time, it becomes very difficult.

"That does not make them in any means, not a top side and they still have a top manager.