Tactical Conclusion:
Real Finally Defeat Hesitant Atletico with Atypical Attack
Although it’s tempting to heap blame on Cholo Simeone for his team’s odd, tentative performance against the crosstown rivals they’d so thoroughly dominated this year, Ancelotti sprung a subtle tactical surprise of his own which swayed the contest, and the game’s most influential player, James Rodriguez, was finally able to find an unlikely path through Atletico’s impassable defense to set up the round’s first and last goal.
CHOLO’S WEARY ATTACK
While there were similarities with Mourinho’s disasterclass against PSG, the differences outweigh them. Mourinho was gifted the game with a soft red card at home, and foolishly failed to capitalize, while Simeone played against a hobbled but deep Madrid squad, away from home and ended up a man down.
That said, Atletico Madrid had seven aimless clearances in the first half alone--often when not under significant pressure. If long clearance was part of their 1st half strategy, it was certainly part of the reason they completely failed to get their attackers involved. One particularly bizarre instance of their offensive complacency occurred in the 12th minute, when the ball got away from Real and ended up at Koke’s feet in the center of the pitch. Despite having at least five meters of space on all sides and no immediate pressure, for reasons tactical or unknown he kicked the ball all the way to the Real keeper Casillas. While Simeone's strategy is partially explained by the fact that Real scores the majority of their goals in the first half, Atletico established a pattern of hesitancy on offense which they were unable to later undo.
Simeone’s substitution of his leading scorer Griezmann seemed odd, but it is unclear why the Frenchman wasn’t exploiting the clearly weaker left side of Real’s defense, something which Raul Garcia--despite basically being a defender who lines up on offense--managed to do twice within five minutes of coming on. Atletico’s only true period of ascendancy was a couple of minutes on either side of this 65th minute substitution. Just before his exit, Atletico strung twelve passes together resulting in a Griezmann cross that almost found Mandzukic, and then when Garcia came on he was involved in an exchange that lead to a Turan cross that found Koke just outside the six yard box.
Less than ten minutes after this brief spell Atletico were a man down. While the ref could have spared Arda Turan his second yellow card, it was a dangerous play after a first half in which he had three potentially bookable offenses: a foul on Ronaldo, an elbow of Carvajal (no foul given), and a foul on Kroos. While he was only booked for the third--where he pretty much kicked Kroos in the knee with the ball already past--the referee obviously had already seen enough of Turan. Always defending to the last man by default, Simeone had limited options at this point and inserted a third central defender in hopes of holding on for a penalty shootout he was confident Oblak could win.
It would have been nice for neutral spectators to have seen Simeone field Griezmann, Mandzukic and Torres for the first time and go for a hobbled Madrid’s throat, but that’s simply not Atletico's identity. Yet the calm, carefree approach Simeone seemed to be encouraging for at least the early stages of the match manifested itself in a rare, uninspired performance.
ANCELOTTI’S LOPSIDED, MAKESHIFT ATTACK
Carlo Ancelotti’s gameplan, meanwhile, was an ingenious piece of asymmetrical tactics, and worked well offensively and defensively. He slotted his best central defender, Sergio Ramos, into a holding midfield role to the right of Kroos, only, the average position chart clearly shows that Kroos did not shift over. While Kroos pivoted with typical effectiveness, when the ball swung right, Carvajal advanced and often both Chicharito and Ronaldo alertly arrived. Thus Ancelotti enabled his primary playmaker, James Rodriguez, to be central amid an overload, an ideal situation for the alert attacker, who created at least five chances and nutmegged Godin to set up the lone goal. Isco, merely a flashy footnote on the left, was essentially a decoy. Ramos, although at times comically confused about how to contribute on offense, snuck forward for a header once in each half, and although he didn’t convert, Ancelotti was able to cook up these two chances from scratch against a stingy defense. Additionally, Ramos’ sliding challenge snuffed out Griezmann’s only significant run with the ball at his feet. While he had many decisions to make due to injuries, Ancelotti got his best players on the pitch and arranged them so that they were both stout in defense and able to consistently overload Atleti’s left side.
Real’s makeshift attack of Rodriguez, Hernandez and Ronaldo was in sync almost the entire game, triangulating early and often. Hernandez was exceedingly active and worked tirelessly to be on the end of seven created chances, which in a way tell the story of the match. Real Madrid seemed to be creeping closer to scoring the crucial goal with each Chicharito chance:
Real Finally Defeat Hesitant Atletico with Atypical Attack
Although it’s tempting to heap blame on Cholo Simeone for his team’s odd, tentative performance against the crosstown rivals they’d so thoroughly dominated this year, Ancelotti sprung a subtle tactical surprise of his own which swayed the contest, and the game’s most influential player, James Rodriguez, was finally able to find an unlikely path through Atletico’s impassable defense to set up the round’s first and last goal.
CHOLO’S WEARY ATTACK
While there were similarities with Mourinho’s disasterclass against PSG, the differences outweigh them. Mourinho was gifted the game with a soft red card at home, and foolishly failed to capitalize, while Simeone played against a hobbled but deep Madrid squad, away from home and ended up a man down.
That said, Atletico Madrid had seven aimless clearances in the first half alone--often when not under significant pressure. If long clearance was part of their 1st half strategy, it was certainly part of the reason they completely failed to get their attackers involved. One particularly bizarre instance of their offensive complacency occurred in the 12th minute, when the ball got away from Real and ended up at Koke’s feet in the center of the pitch. Despite having at least five meters of space on all sides and no immediate pressure, for reasons tactical or unknown he kicked the ball all the way to the Real keeper Casillas. While Simeone's strategy is partially explained by the fact that Real scores the majority of their goals in the first half, Atletico established a pattern of hesitancy on offense which they were unable to later undo.
Simeone’s substitution of his leading scorer Griezmann seemed odd, but it is unclear why the Frenchman wasn’t exploiting the clearly weaker left side of Real’s defense, something which Raul Garcia--despite basically being a defender who lines up on offense--managed to do twice within five minutes of coming on. Atletico’s only true period of ascendancy was a couple of minutes on either side of this 65th minute substitution. Just before his exit, Atletico strung twelve passes together resulting in a Griezmann cross that almost found Mandzukic, and then when Garcia came on he was involved in an exchange that lead to a Turan cross that found Koke just outside the six yard box.
Less than ten minutes after this brief spell Atletico were a man down. While the ref could have spared Arda Turan his second yellow card, it was a dangerous play after a first half in which he had three potentially bookable offenses: a foul on Ronaldo, an elbow of Carvajal (no foul given), and a foul on Kroos. While he was only booked for the third--where he pretty much kicked Kroos in the knee with the ball already past--the referee obviously had already seen enough of Turan. Always defending to the last man by default, Simeone had limited options at this point and inserted a third central defender in hopes of holding on for a penalty shootout he was confident Oblak could win.
It would have been nice for neutral spectators to have seen Simeone field Griezmann, Mandzukic and Torres for the first time and go for a hobbled Madrid’s throat, but that’s simply not Atletico's identity. Yet the calm, carefree approach Simeone seemed to be encouraging for at least the early stages of the match manifested itself in a rare, uninspired performance.
ANCELOTTI’S LOPSIDED, MAKESHIFT ATTACK
Carlo Ancelotti’s gameplan, meanwhile, was an ingenious piece of asymmetrical tactics, and worked well offensively and defensively. He slotted his best central defender, Sergio Ramos, into a holding midfield role to the right of Kroos, only, the average position chart clearly shows that Kroos did not shift over. While Kroos pivoted with typical effectiveness, when the ball swung right, Carvajal advanced and often both Chicharito and Ronaldo alertly arrived. Thus Ancelotti enabled his primary playmaker, James Rodriguez, to be central amid an overload, an ideal situation for the alert attacker, who created at least five chances and nutmegged Godin to set up the lone goal. Isco, merely a flashy footnote on the left, was essentially a decoy. Ramos, although at times comically confused about how to contribute on offense, snuck forward for a header once in each half, and although he didn’t convert, Ancelotti was able to cook up these two chances from scratch against a stingy defense. Additionally, Ramos’ sliding challenge snuffed out Griezmann’s only significant run with the ball at his feet. While he had many decisions to make due to injuries, Ancelotti got his best players on the pitch and arranged them so that they were both stout in defense and able to consistently overload Atleti’s left side.
Real’s makeshift attack of Rodriguez, Hernandez and Ronaldo was in sync almost the entire game, triangulating early and often. Hernandez was exceedingly active and worked tirelessly to be on the end of seven created chances, which in a way tell the story of the match. Real Madrid seemed to be creeping closer to scoring the crucial goal with each Chicharito chance:
- 11th minute: Hernandez meets Carvajal’s cross as it bounces and he scuffs it wide of the near post.
- 12th minute: Hernandez initiates a give and go with Rodriguez who expertly plays it back to him past the defense with the outside of his left foot. Hernandez shoots into the side netting.
- 31st minute: Kroos feeds Rodriguez at the edge of the box. He turns in traffic and chips the ball up for Hernandez, who attacks the ball but Juanfran defends excellently, deflecting the ball a meter beyond the upper corner of the goal.
- 48th minute: Isco plays in Chicharito towards the left corner of the small box. With his left foot he chops it across his body and misses the goal by a foot.
- 54th minute: Carvajal crosses into Hernandez just outside the small box. Hernandez attacks the ball but Miranda knocks him to the ground in a play that could have been deemed a penalty.
- 80th minute: Rodriguez goes by Tiago and draws two other Atleti defenders before feeding Hernandez who’s posting up Godin inside the box. He somehow manages to stay on his feet and shed Godin. Oblak closes well and is able to touch his shot inches wide.
- 88th minute: Ronaldo receives the ball on the right touchline, accelerating but then slowing down to draw a third defender, at which point he slips the ball to Rodriguez and sprints diagonally to goal, crucially getting on the inside of Miranda who has been dragged out to help, and who then follows Ronaldo towards goal. Rodriguez toe pokes the ball through Godin’s legs back to Ronaldo, creating the game’s crucial moment. Ronaldo races at Oblak with Hernandez faking towards goal and then rooting himself to the penalty spot and indicating that he’s ready to finally score. Gimenez takes a crucial step away from Ronaldo before approaching, and Juanfran, sure Ronaldo’s going to shoot (he’s scored 41% of his team’s goals), makes to back up Oblak, leaving Chicharito unmarked. Ronaldo is able to hold off Miranda and unselfishly slides the ball to a waiting Hernandez who finishes with his first touch between Oblak and Juanfran, ending the tie.
- The two chances created when Sergio Ramos snuck into Atletico’s box for crosses during the run of play equaled the total number of chances Atletico created in the game.
- In a bizarre subplot of a sequence just before the game's defining moment, Mandzukic limped off with an apparent foot injury, exchanged pleasantries with the opposing team’s coach for the better part of a minute, strolled back onto the field, failed to win a header, and then didn’t make an effort to get back. Real scored on the play.