Match date: 11 January 2013

The sides came in joint-top of La Liga with 18 matches played. Atlético Madrid and Diego Simeone have had an excellent season, losing just one match thus far and conceding the fewest goals in the league, with Barcelona conceding just one more than Atletico.

Simeone lined up his side in a 4-4-2, with David Villa and Diego Costa as the strikers, with Atlético looking to play a very high tempo match both with and without the ball. Tata Martino, with both Messi and Neymar unfit to start the match, deployed Barcelona in a 4-3-3 with Cesc Fabregas as the central player of the attacking three.

Fighting to Control the Tempo

The two sides are quite contrasting. Barcelona have always been known for their possession-based style of play, which reached its heights under Guardiola and while Tata Martino has looked for his players to still play a bit more direct, with Pedro’s running in this match a good example of that, they continue to dominate possession in just about every match. Though it was rather famously earlier this season against Rayo Vallecano that Barcelona, for the first time in 317 competitive matches, failed to win the possession battle.

Simeone, however, has Atlético playing at an incredibly high tempo and has talked numerous times during his time as manager at the Madrid club how possession is not really important. Simeone wants his side to remain compact defensively, win the ball back, and then play quickly into the opposition’s final third.

The contrast of the two sides could be seen right away as Atlético worked hard to win the ball back and when they did, they looked to play it to Diego Costa and David Villa as soon as possible. This approach made Barcelona uncomfortable and for the opening twenty minutes of the match, Atlético were controlling the match with their direct play and organisation. Once Barcelona were finally able to get good spells of possession and Atlético began to sit back a bit, the visiting side were able to take control of the match. Their passes in the attacking third sum up the contrast quite well; the direct, high tempo nature of Atlético and the patience of Barcelona.

Atlético’s Pressing and Shape

As expected, Barcelona had majority of the ball throughout the match, but Atlético were able to dictate the spaces in which Barcelona were able to play. Starting from the opening minutes of the match, Diego Costa and David Villa were able to  apply large amounts of pressure on Pique and Mascherano, but more so on Sergio Busquets who lost the ball twice early on in the match, and while neither loss of possession turned into an opportunity for Atlético, it showed the willingness of the Atlético to play with high energy without the ball and they did so very well throughout the match.

Above, you can see the numbers that Atlético have pressing the ball high up the pitch. Here, Busquets is passing the ball to Xavi who has two players close by, with Arda Turan pinched in as well. For Atlético, their defensive shape started from Costa and Villa. They would press and when Atlético had had possession of the ball, they would keep numbers up to support in the pressing, as you can see above. However, when Barcelona were able to play out of the back, Villa and Costa dropped behind Busquets and would look to cut off his vertical passing lanes to Iniesta and Xavi, which they did well throughout the match, with an example below.

Costa and Villa’s positioning when Barcelona were in positions such as the one above goes along with how Atlético have played for most of the season. They are remain compact in midfield and allow teams to play into the wide areas, rather directing their opposition to play into that space by leaving it unmarked. Once the ball is played into a wide player, throughout this match that meant Pedro and Sanchez from the start, Arda Turan and Koke worked exceptionally hard to help their full backs in Juanfran and Filipe Luis. Atlético made their tackles in the wide areas of the pitch as they were able to quickly get 2v1 situations against the Barcelona player with the ball.

The rest of the Atlético team would shift to try to win the ball back once it was played back centrally from the wide areas, which is another reason why Costa and Villa would drop; as the ball moved out and back in, Simeone wants Atlético to maintain central dominance in the middle of the pitch despite the wide midfielder dropping to help his respective full back. As the ball moves back inside, Atlético still have a midfield square with Costa and Villa the top two and Gabi and Tiago the back two, with Koke or Turan in a wide area on the opposite side of the pitch. In the ‘ball recoveries’ portion of the above image, you can see a number of markers in between the wide and central areas of the pitch as Atlético were able to dictate Barcelona moving the ball into wide areas only to then wait to intercept as they moved back inside.

Barcelona’s Attacks

Without Messi and Neymar in the starting XI, Pedro was Barcelona’s focal point for their attacks and the left winger did very well for his side. He was comfortable running with the ball in quick transitions and did well in recycling possession of the ball, but Barcelona’s attack, overall, lacked penetration due to Atlético’s defensive abilities. They were forced to play in the wide areas and to deliver crosses as Atlético’s compact defensive shape when defending close to their own goal made it hard for the likes of Iniesta, Xavi, Fabregas, and even Messi, when he came on, to find any space between the lines.

Compare this performance to Barcelona’s performance earlier in the season to Atlético’s rival, Real Madrid. Against Real, Barcelona were able to play one-twos much more often around the edge of the Real penalty area, relying less on the wide areas. Against Atlético, there was little room to play such one-twos and it forced Barcelona to work the ball wide and cross often, which is where two of their best chances came, one for Pedro and one for Messi, either of whom were able to direct their headers on target.

Messi’s introduction at halftime added more fluency to Barcelona’s attacks as he could drop deep, switching with Cesc, who was now occupying Iniesta’s role, but Messi also ventured wide on the right, despite Barcelona rarely using any of the right wingers. Sanchez was withdrawn after an anonymous outing and was replaced by Sergi Roberto. The only time when Messi looked particular dangerous was when he was able to pick the ball up deeper and dribble at the Atlético defense. Again, it was Atlético’s defensive shape, compact and deep, that limited the amount of influence that Messi was exert on the match once brought on.

Atlético’s Long Ball and Turan

As discussed already, Simeone wants his side to play at a high tempo and get the ball to the forwards quickly, preferably in 1v1 and 2v2 situations. With David Villa and Diego Costa in the side, Atlético have the ability to play the ball into the space behind the opposition’s back line or play the ball into Costa as a target man, which was effective against Barcelona, especially with Costa targeting Jordi Alba. When Atlético won possession of the ball, Costa consistently drifted wide right so as to have a better chance of his side finding him in the air against the much smaller, less imposing figure of Alba.

While he was obviously unable to score, Costa managed to test Valdes and was important in holding up the ball for his teammates as they transition quickly into Barcelona’s defensive third.

Perhaps the man of the match was Arda Turan. The number 10 was able to inject a good amount of directness and pace into Atlético’s when they were in possession of the ball whether on a counter attack or in the attacking final of the pitch. Early on in the match, he was able to easily get by Alba and get a cutback into the Barcelona penalty area only for Pique to head the ball onto the roof of the net. This, despite being in the early stages of the match, defined Turan’s day as he was able to create and put consistent pressure on the Barcelona back four.

Conclusion

The sides entered the match tied at the top of La Liga with 49 points each and they leave with 50 points. Barcelona remain top on goal difference and might be the happier side with the match being played at the Vicente Calderon. After the match, Martino said, “The draw seems fine to me. We aren’t going home satisfied, but we have no complaints.” Xavi commented on how few opportunities Barcelona were able to get throughout the match and praised Atlético for their defensive ability. Messi may have been able to contribute more had he started the match, but Atlético dictating the spaces in which Barcelona were able to play, it would have been difficult either way.

Simeone would certainly be happy with the result and the performance that his side put in. Their defensive shape and work rate were exceptional throughout the match and they had a few good opportunities to get a goal through Turan and Costa, but Valdes was able to save on both occasions.

It will be interesting to see where the title goes from here, Barcelona are certainly still favourites, but Atlético are going to be in contention until the end of the season and the two sides play one another again in the last match of the season.