The two sides meet in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
It is set to be a fascinating game between the champions of Spain and England, with Atletico renowned for their defensive resilience under Diego Simeone while Manchester City play attractive attacking football under Guardiola.
Atletico come into the game on the back of a six-game winning streak in La Liga while they also knocked out Manchester United 2-1 on aggregate in the round of 16.
Ahead of the match, Guardiola is wary about the attacking threat Atletico will pose and is not getting carried away by their defensive tag.
"I'm not going to talk one second about this stupid debate," Guardiola said at Monday's pre-match news conference.
"Everyone tries to win the game. If they win they are right, if we win we are right. It's for the players, the difference will be there. Honestly, not one second.
"After watching Atletico there is a misconception, wrong, about the way Simeone plays. It's more offensive than people believe.
"He doesn't want to take a risk in the build up but they have quality in the final third. They know exactly how to play. In the moments of the game, these situations are really good."
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager added:"What is playing ugly?
"My team won 1-0 at Old Trafford and Bernardo Silva spent five minutes in the corner, that is not ugly. It's defending the position.
"I'm here to talk about what we try to do. I never judge the opponents. What they do, what we have to do to win."
