Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona Match Analysis

This was the match of the weekend, and possibly the match of the season so far. Atleti and Barcelona were tied atop the league, and Barcelona had a match in hand, meaning that Atleti needed to get points off Barcelona at the Camp Nou to stay tight to the Catalans.

The game was also a clash of the best defense in the world against what is probably the best offense in the world. The game didn’t let down the hype.

Lineups
Barcelona XI

 Atletico Madrid XI

Luis Enrique lined Barcelona up in their chosen 4-3-3. Messi as always rarely played on the right wing, instead often dropping into midfield and wandering over to the other wing.

Atleti and Diego Simeone used several formations during the game. Nominally they were playing a 4-1-4-1, although, due to their press and compact style, it could change into a 4-4-2, or 4-4-1-1

Atletico’s High Press

Simeone has made Atleti one of the best, if not the best, defensive teams in the world since his arrival in 2011. Key to their stout defense, and contrary to popular opinion of Simeone’s style, is the brilliant press they put on (for more on Simeone’s tactics, see this fantastic article on Spielverlagerung).

Atleti seeks to force the ball onto the wings, or deeper into the opponents half, where they can isolate players into 1 v 1 situations. Simeone has trained every player on Atleti’s squad to be a fantastic defender, so nearly every 1 v 1 situation results in a turnover of possession.

Here you can see, from the outset, Atleti pressing into Barcelona’s half. Notice their man-orientation: each player that Pique could pass to is covered, except for Alves. Griezmann, marking Pique, has also positioned his body to force Pique to pass to Alves. This is another key of Atleti’s strategy: leave one man unmarked, force the ball to him, and then shut him down and get a turnover.

Here Pique has passed the ball to Alves. Atleti move to close him down, with two players pressing him. They also cut off his options to pass forward or into the midfield, leaving just Pique open.

Alves passes back to Pique, who moves it onto the keeper. Notice how Griezmann both cuts off the pass back Pique and closes down the keeper. Two Atleti players are near to Busquets, meaning there isn’t a short passing option into midfield. Atleti leave Mascherano as the free man.

Just as before, Atleti force Mascherano to make the pass to Alba on the wing. All of his other options are cut off. Notice as well that Mascherano only has three options; Enrique would instruct Messi, Rakitic and Iniesta to play deeper later in the match, and this was crucial to beating the high press, as there were more passing options for Atleti to cover.

Here Alba has the ball, but this time, Atleti don’t leave a free man for Alba to pass too. With no options, he makes a pass down the line, resulting in a throw in for Atleti deep in Barca’s half.

It was this high press that caused Atleti’s goal. Barca had the ball in their own half, on the wing, and when Iniesta tried to dribble into midfield, 5 Atleti players closed him down, forcing the ball back onto the wing, where Atleti won a throw. Saul bodied Alba off, and hit a great cross to Koke.

Barca Beat the Press

Simeone took off the press later in the half and into the second half, however, for several reasons. 

One was that his strategy of playing very physical to throw off Barcelona resulted in several of his players picking up yellow cards, and to ensure that they weren’t sent off (which they were anyway), he played more conservatively.

The more important reason is that Barcelona were beating the press, and forcing Atleti back into their own half. Barca did this by patient build up play, moving the ball back and forth across the backline and the wings, gradually pushing up the field.

One of the most important adaptations Enrique made to negate Atleti’s press was dropping the midfield deeper. Busquests dropped in between the center backs and Iniesta and Rakitic both moved into the half spaces and closer to the center backs. Messi also drifted much deeper than we have seen him do in a while, since his days as a false nine under Guardiola.

This helped negate Atleti’s defensive overloads, and opened more passing options for the defenders.

This can be seen clearly in the build up to Barca’s second goal, by the foot of Suarez.

Here Pique again has the ball, and Atleti are shielding his passing options, leaving only Alves open.

Barca work the ball around the field to Mascherano. You can see that this time, however, Atleti is doing a poor job of cutting off his options, allowing Iniesta to drop into space unmarked. Simeone never wants a free man to be in the middle, but rather on the wings where they can trap easier.

Also note Busquet’s position. He has dropped in between Mascherano and Pique, opening another passing option and stretching Atleti’s press, as a midfielder has to cover him and patrol the middle. This opened space in the middle for Iniesta and Rakitic.

Iniesta gets the ball in the middle, and Atleti do an awful job of closing him down. The man who was behind him doesn’t stay close, and the other two closet men stay yards away.

Iniesta passes to Pique, who takes the ball into the right half space. Once again, look at all the room he has. No Atleti player is moving to close him down, leaving him time on the ball.

Alves gets the ball on the wing, and Atleti have been stretched too far the press him adequately. When you give any Barcelona player that much time and space, he will find a killer pass. That’s exactly what Alves does, picking out one of the best passes of the season. Suarez’s run was also perfect. He exploited the lack of horizontal compactness in Atletico’s setup, and when the ball came to him, he positioned himself between the man and the ball, meaning the defender would have to tackle through him to get to the ball. His finish was, as always, perfect.

It was Enrique’s decision to move Busquets, Iniesta, Rakitic and Messi all deeper in midfield that ended up beating Atleti’s press, by negating their overloads and creating more passing options for the defenders.

Atletico Defend in Their Own Half

As the game wore on, and Simeone made the decision to tone the press down, Atleti increasing sat in their own half, defending in a block. After Filipe Luis and Diego Godin were sent off, Atleti played deeper and deeper, although they still were adventurous and pressed on occasion.

Watching it was a master class in team defending, as Atleti remained vertically compact, and in situations horizontally uncompact, as they stretched to press Barca on the wings.

Here Atleti are defending in their own half (this is an early example, but it still fits). The midfield four are compact horizontally, and are staying close to the backline. Atleti’s strong 4-4-2 shape (the extra forward is off screen) forces Barca to the wing.

Now the ball is on the wing. Atleti close down the marker, and all of his forward options, leaving only the back pass open.

Barca work the ball around to the other side, and Atleti’s block shifts over. There aren’t any immediate options forward, except for a closely guarded wing man.

Note, however, the amazing amount of space between Godin and Luis on the ball side. Simeone does not prioritize horizontal compactness, leaving gaps with the risk of shutting down opponents before they can find them. Although Barca turn the ball over here, they would exploit the gaps in Atleti’s backline later in the game.

In the second half, playing with first 10 then 9 men, Atleti still managed to stop Barca from getting any real shots on goal.

After Luis was sent off, Atleti went to a 4-4-1, still a compact formation, but without a good pressing top. After Godin left, they went to a 4-3-1. Both were strong centrally and even allowed for some pressing on the wings, but they did little to regain possession from Barcelona.

Conclusion

In the end, Atletico will be disappointed with the result. They needed at least a draw to keep even with Barca, and the loss will set them down effectively 6 points.

Simeone’s strategy was brilliant, limiting Barca to very few chances, and almost no good ones at that. They were undone partly by their own strategy of physical play, to intimidate Barcelona, which led to two red cards, but also by Barcelona’s amazing finishing. Looking at the xG map, you can see two things: Atleti did an amazing job of holding the world’s best offense to almost no chances, and the world’s best offense converted some very average chances. In the second half, down a man, Atleti even looked the better team until Godin’s sending off, Griezmann nearly scoring an equalizer.

xG map for Barcelona-Atleti. Barca were clinical. Impressive that Atleti had a chance at this one, given the red(s). pic.twitter.com/xJyWOH2jnh

— Michael Caley (@MC_of_A) January 30, 2016

This title race is not over by any stretch of the imagination, and it will be one of the most interesting things to watch over the next months.