The Nutmeg Post:
Between the Cal derón and the Bernabéu Legs
THE FIRST LEG IN THE VICENTE CALDERÓN STADIUM
The first of two quarterfinal derbies was tense, bloody, entertaining, at times comical, full of well-defended bursts of offense and, ultimately, scoreless.
Atletico were able to avoid an away goal thanks to multiple instances of last-ditch defending and some inspired play by goalie Jan Oblak, whose eight saves included a one-on-one with Bale, and a parry-away of a curving, outside-of-the-foot effort through traffic from James Rodriguez . While Atleti often live and die by their ability to defend inside their own box, Oblak’s Courtois impression (Atletico’s standout keeper from last season who returned to Chelsea) was surely a welcome surprise.
Real Madrid were comfortable sending six or even seven players forward, often leaving only Kroos back between the central defenders, with Modric and both wing backs pushing forward. For this reason, they were the team who looked likeliest to score for the entire first half, and with Varane winning every race to the ball, and Ramos tackling well, this commitment to offense didn’t backfire. In fact Ramos and Casillas’ at times lackadaisical play out of the back looked more likely to hurt Real then their extreme tactical risk-taking.
While Atletico sat back, they couldn’t be accused of parking the bus. It’s interesting to watch their forwards actually hassle and defend, instead of the lip service to defense you get from most attacking players. With Mandzukic and Griezmann at times making it difficult to cross midfield, the next area of contention--and in fact where the majority of football was played--was from midfield until about thirty-five yards from Oblak’s goal. The fact that the interior limit of this zone is where confident attackers will begin to think of shooting from is most likely not an accident. Play being forced into this zone created a situation where Atletico’s ball-winning midfielders were pitted against Real’s talented distributors, with both groups playing effectively in an entertaining, small-sided game within a game.
After the half, Ramos’ elbow opened up a cut between Mandzukic’s eyes that bled nonstop for the next half hour. During this period of the game play was erratic, with frequent fouls, disruptions and a seemingly never-ending amount of sideline shots of Mandzukic haranguing the fifth official while Atleti doctors tried--without success--to get him to be still so they could staunch the bleeding from the bridge of his nose. Atletico emerged stronger from this stretch of broken play, as their offense is not rhythm-dependant, and they went on to threaten Real’s goal various times in the last fifteen minutes of the game, with Casillas doing well to keep the score even.
Real Madrid completed their main tactical switch when they took Benzema out in the 76th minute and converted from a 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2, with Bale and Ronaldo up top and Isco wide but making runs inward. Atletico’s converse switch in the 83rd minute saw Mandzukic and Torres up front accompanied by Raul Garcia to their right or just behind.
THE SECOND LEG IN THE SANTIAGO BERNABÉU
Atletico are without Mario Suarez who picked up a second yellow card during the first leg. While they have an able replacement in Tiago who is a regular starter, it is important to note that Suarez was everywhere during the first leg, assisting with last-ditch defending, blocking passing lanes, and generally popping up in important places and being a nuisance in ways which statistics struggle to quantify. His passing was not particularly precise, however, and Tiago, a calmer distributor, will most likely complete more than his 29 passes during the 2nd leg.
Real Madrid are without Marcelo who also picked up his second yellow. While locking down Atletico key man Arda Turan will prove more difficult for his replacement Fabio Coentrão, Coentrão is positionally more disciplined and so Real will most likely have four players with which to stamp out counterattacks, rather than the three who managed to during the first leg.
Benzema, Modric and maybe Bale are also unavailable through injuries picked up in a costly 3-1 win over Malaga on Saturday. For most teams, losing players of this level would spell the bitter end, but it’s difficult to disagree with coach Carlo Ancelotti when he says, “In my opinion I have the best squad in the world.” That said, if Bale is indeed unavailable as well, Atletico will have become the favorites to advance.
Most likely, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez will try and fill Benzema’s shoes, the second leading goalscorer on Real Madrid. While a different sort of player, the “pure poacher” label Hernandez has carried and which has often led to him being a bit part player is beginning to look like it needs revision. Scoring and assisting in his last two appearances, Chicharito looks fitter and faster than he did during his time at Manchester United, and links up well with Rodriguez in particular.
It is well documented that Real Madrid struggle without Modric, so how Ancelotti deals with his absence could determine which team advances. Isco has often attempted to replace him in the middle, but if Bale is out also Real’s most probable lineup will see him used out wide, with Illarramendi or Khedira slotting into a 4-4-2 beside Kroos. This lineup has one particularly interesting aspect, which is that it could see Kroos playing more of an attacking, #10 role, which he was accustomed to filling during his Bayern days. For Real he’s been a pivot and a distributor but has sometimes struggled with his defensive responsibilities, so this could free him up to be be more of an offensive x-factor. Ancelotti may also field Jese and Chicharito in a 4-3-3, but in doing so he would fail to introduce significant new tactical factors for Atletico to reckon with.
Ronaldo, in particular is hurt by the absences of Marcelo and Benzema, the passing partners he seems most comfortable with. This makes it the biggest game of James Rodriguez’s young Real career. Often pushed off the ball by a rough Atletico team in the first leg, he’ll need to show his quality in more than small bursts to link up consistently with Ronaldo (in part to prevent him from sulking about his lack of service) and help make up for the loss of Modric in the midfield.
Atletico will likely field a lineup with few changes from the first leg, but may look to exploit the right side of Real’s defense by sending Griezmann over on frequent runs to link up with Turan and create overloads. If Torres starts for an injured Mandzukic, he’ll offer better on-the-ball dribbling, but will not ‘soften the defense’ quite like his Croatian counterpart.
Unbeaten in their last ten matches, Atletico are the tactical freaks who won La Liga last season with less than 50% of possession, beating out (arguably) both the best teams in the world for the first time in a decade. Remarkably comfortable on the ball and clearly capable of holding possession should they want to, it becomes clear that Simeone’s somewhat esoteric strategy involves conceding possession in the general sense, but besides out-and-out counterattacks they look for distinct pockets of space to play flurries of short passes when they’ve found an overload. Koke, completing only 74% of his passes (fourfourtwo.com) during the first leg, will need to contribute more than energy for these odd moments of possession-based attacking to flourish on his side as they have on Turan’s.
Not conceding at home was Atletico’s primary goal last week. If Real do not score early and their overdog crowd starts to get eerily introverted, their unsupported stars will need to outshine an in-form keeper on a side who very rarely gives anything away.
NOTES OF POTENTIAL INTEREST:
Between the Cal derón and the Bernabéu Legs
THE FIRST LEG IN THE VICENTE CALDERÓN STADIUM
The first of two quarterfinal derbies was tense, bloody, entertaining, at times comical, full of well-defended bursts of offense and, ultimately, scoreless.
Atletico were able to avoid an away goal thanks to multiple instances of last-ditch defending and some inspired play by goalie Jan Oblak, whose eight saves included a one-on-one with Bale, and a parry-away of a curving, outside-of-the-foot effort through traffic from James Rodriguez . While Atleti often live and die by their ability to defend inside their own box, Oblak’s Courtois impression (Atletico’s standout keeper from last season who returned to Chelsea) was surely a welcome surprise.
Real Madrid were comfortable sending six or even seven players forward, often leaving only Kroos back between the central defenders, with Modric and both wing backs pushing forward. For this reason, they were the team who looked likeliest to score for the entire first half, and with Varane winning every race to the ball, and Ramos tackling well, this commitment to offense didn’t backfire. In fact Ramos and Casillas’ at times lackadaisical play out of the back looked more likely to hurt Real then their extreme tactical risk-taking.
While Atletico sat back, they couldn’t be accused of parking the bus. It’s interesting to watch their forwards actually hassle and defend, instead of the lip service to defense you get from most attacking players. With Mandzukic and Griezmann at times making it difficult to cross midfield, the next area of contention--and in fact where the majority of football was played--was from midfield until about thirty-five yards from Oblak’s goal. The fact that the interior limit of this zone is where confident attackers will begin to think of shooting from is most likely not an accident. Play being forced into this zone created a situation where Atletico’s ball-winning midfielders were pitted against Real’s talented distributors, with both groups playing effectively in an entertaining, small-sided game within a game.
After the half, Ramos’ elbow opened up a cut between Mandzukic’s eyes that bled nonstop for the next half hour. During this period of the game play was erratic, with frequent fouls, disruptions and a seemingly never-ending amount of sideline shots of Mandzukic haranguing the fifth official while Atleti doctors tried--without success--to get him to be still so they could staunch the bleeding from the bridge of his nose. Atletico emerged stronger from this stretch of broken play, as their offense is not rhythm-dependant, and they went on to threaten Real’s goal various times in the last fifteen minutes of the game, with Casillas doing well to keep the score even.
Real Madrid completed their main tactical switch when they took Benzema out in the 76th minute and converted from a 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2, with Bale and Ronaldo up top and Isco wide but making runs inward. Atletico’s converse switch in the 83rd minute saw Mandzukic and Torres up front accompanied by Raul Garcia to their right or just behind.
THE SECOND LEG IN THE SANTIAGO BERNABÉU
Atletico are without Mario Suarez who picked up a second yellow card during the first leg. While they have an able replacement in Tiago who is a regular starter, it is important to note that Suarez was everywhere during the first leg, assisting with last-ditch defending, blocking passing lanes, and generally popping up in important places and being a nuisance in ways which statistics struggle to quantify. His passing was not particularly precise, however, and Tiago, a calmer distributor, will most likely complete more than his 29 passes during the 2nd leg.
Real Madrid are without Marcelo who also picked up his second yellow. While locking down Atletico key man Arda Turan will prove more difficult for his replacement Fabio Coentrão, Coentrão is positionally more disciplined and so Real will most likely have four players with which to stamp out counterattacks, rather than the three who managed to during the first leg.
Benzema, Modric and maybe Bale are also unavailable through injuries picked up in a costly 3-1 win over Malaga on Saturday. For most teams, losing players of this level would spell the bitter end, but it’s difficult to disagree with coach Carlo Ancelotti when he says, “In my opinion I have the best squad in the world.” That said, if Bale is indeed unavailable as well, Atletico will have become the favorites to advance.
Most likely, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez will try and fill Benzema’s shoes, the second leading goalscorer on Real Madrid. While a different sort of player, the “pure poacher” label Hernandez has carried and which has often led to him being a bit part player is beginning to look like it needs revision. Scoring and assisting in his last two appearances, Chicharito looks fitter and faster than he did during his time at Manchester United, and links up well with Rodriguez in particular.
It is well documented that Real Madrid struggle without Modric, so how Ancelotti deals with his absence could determine which team advances. Isco has often attempted to replace him in the middle, but if Bale is out also Real’s most probable lineup will see him used out wide, with Illarramendi or Khedira slotting into a 4-4-2 beside Kroos. This lineup has one particularly interesting aspect, which is that it could see Kroos playing more of an attacking, #10 role, which he was accustomed to filling during his Bayern days. For Real he’s been a pivot and a distributor but has sometimes struggled with his defensive responsibilities, so this could free him up to be be more of an offensive x-factor. Ancelotti may also field Jese and Chicharito in a 4-3-3, but in doing so he would fail to introduce significant new tactical factors for Atletico to reckon with.
Ronaldo, in particular is hurt by the absences of Marcelo and Benzema, the passing partners he seems most comfortable with. This makes it the biggest game of James Rodriguez’s young Real career. Often pushed off the ball by a rough Atletico team in the first leg, he’ll need to show his quality in more than small bursts to link up consistently with Ronaldo (in part to prevent him from sulking about his lack of service) and help make up for the loss of Modric in the midfield.
Atletico will likely field a lineup with few changes from the first leg, but may look to exploit the right side of Real’s defense by sending Griezmann over on frequent runs to link up with Turan and create overloads. If Torres starts for an injured Mandzukic, he’ll offer better on-the-ball dribbling, but will not ‘soften the defense’ quite like his Croatian counterpart.
Unbeaten in their last ten matches, Atletico are the tactical freaks who won La Liga last season with less than 50% of possession, beating out (arguably) both the best teams in the world for the first time in a decade. Remarkably comfortable on the ball and clearly capable of holding possession should they want to, it becomes clear that Simeone’s somewhat esoteric strategy involves conceding possession in the general sense, but besides out-and-out counterattacks they look for distinct pockets of space to play flurries of short passes when they’ve found an overload. Koke, completing only 74% of his passes (fourfourtwo.com) during the first leg, will need to contribute more than energy for these odd moments of possession-based attacking to flourish on his side as they have on Turan’s.
Not conceding at home was Atletico’s primary goal last week. If Real do not score early and their overdog crowd starts to get eerily introverted, their unsupported stars will need to outshine an in-form keeper on a side who very rarely gives anything away.
NOTES OF POTENTIAL INTEREST:
- Arda Turan dribbled by four Real Madrid defenders during the first leg in the most impressive individual moment from players on either side.
- Neither team was able to play a successful through ball during the first leg (whoscored.com).
- James Rodriguez scored a memorable goal against Malaga on Saturday, exchanging one-touch passes with both Isco and Ronaldo before shooting the ball into the upper right hand corner.
- Antoine Griezmann scored both goals against Deportivo la Coruna on Saturday for Atletico, one an impressive, over-the-head scissors kick, and the other a half volley slotted into the corner.
- When Mandzukic lay bloodied by Ramos during the first leg and was rolling around on the ground, a hebrew tattoo became visible on his lower back which metro.co.uk had translated by an Isreali journalist. Apparently, it is written backwards, and reads, ‘Which doesn’t to kill me (sic), makes me stronger.’