Match date: 19 February 2014

Historically, AC Milan are one of the best teams in Europe having won the European Cup/Champions League 7 times. This year, their league campaign has seen them falter and Clarence Seedorf has returned to the club as manager. For Atletico Madrid, their successes in Europe have come recently in the Europa League, winning the competition in 2009-2010 and 2011-2012. Domestically, they have grown as well, as they are level on points with both Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Throughout the season, Diego Simeone has setup his side in a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 and he continued that against AC Milan at the San Siro. Seedorf opted for a variation of a 4-2-3-¼-4-1-1.

Fluid Midfield Battle

Both sides had very fluid midfield movements. On paper for AC Milan, with both Michael Essien and Nigel de Jong in the side, it looked as though AC Milan would play a 4-2-3-1, with the two mentioned players playing as the holding midfielders behind Kaka with Taarabt and Poli playing on either side. In the opening minutes of the match, it did very much look like Milan would play in a 4-2-3-1, with Poli in behind Balotelli and Kaka coming in off the left, but this quickly changed as Atletico Madrid’s Arda Turan and Koke were fluid in their movement and caused Atletico to have extra players in midfield. The reaction saw Milan move to more of a 4-4-1-1 with Kaka supporting Balotelli and de Jong and Poli as the central players. Essien played from the left, but naturally drifted inside leaving the left side open, but allowing Milan to match up to Atletico’s numbers in midfield when Koke and Turan came inside. You can see below that Essien did most of his defensive work through the centre of the pitch.

For Atletico Madrid, Gabi and Suarez stayed in the middle of the pitch, but the movement of Koke and Arda Turan allowed Atletico to have numerical advantages in both the wide areas and in the centre of the field. Koke was the more likely of the two to stay in the centre of the pitch when Diego Costa and Raul Garcia drifted into wide areas, with Turan always looking to provide width, but there were numerous times throughout the match where both Koke and Turan would drift into the same wide area and allow Atletico try to have an overload. Below you can see two instances, one where they both went to the right and one where they both went to the left.

The movement from both sides allowed the wide areas to open up for the full backs to have an influence on the match. The side of Juanfran and Emanuelson was incredibly open.

Juanfran v Emanuelson

This battle became incredibly important in the match as that side of the pitch opened up from Essien moving inside and Arda Turan drifting from one flank to the other. At times, Juanfran and Emanuelson were the only players on that half of the pitch and allowed both sides to have an easy switch and out ball.

For Milan, Emanuelson saw a significant amount of the ball and was their top passer in the match and while he was able to get forward with relative ease and had the space to have one on one opportunities against Juanfran, his contribution going forward was not as significant as it could have been considering the amount of time he had on the ball. His best contributions came from set pieces in the second half with one chance from headed wide by Essien from a corner kick and the other a simple touch to setup Rami for a shot on goal minutes after Atletico’s goal.

Juanfran, however, had a much more influential match and used the space afforded to him well. He got forward and was able to create three very good opportunities, two of which came after he made good penetrative runs behind the Milan defense. The first of these came around the 41st minute when he was able to pull the ball back for Turan, only for the Turkish international to not get enough on the ball to redirect it toward the goal. The second, and perhaps Atletico’s best opportunity before their goal, was a cut back to Raul Garcia who was only able to hit the ball over the goal.

Costa v Balotelli

Two of Europe’s best and most tempestuous strikers featured in the match. Costa scored the only goal of the match and was largely much better than Balotelli throughout the match. Balotelli likes to stay central and it was difficult for Milan to play through the crowded midfield in order to work the ball to him. Milan’s two best chances in the match, Kaka’s shot that Courtois tipped against the crossbar and Poli’s header that Courtois tipped against the post, were both the result of good play down the right side of Milan’s attack. Both strikers were fairly quiet throughout the match, but Costa’s contribution to his team was notable, aside from just the goal.

With the way Simeone has Atletico play, it is important that Costa and his strike partner press the opposition’s centre backs and take away their passing lanes through the middle of the pitch, forcing teams to play into the wide areas so that Atletico’s midfield can shift over and either win a tackle or, more likely, intercept the ball as the opposition moves it back into the middle of the pitch. Costa starts Atletico’s defensive work, whereas Balotelli was less inclined to do so. Costa is also more willing than Balotelli to work into the wide areas to give his team a vertical outlet and the pace and lack of width that Atletico’s midfield play with make his movements into the wide areas that much more important.

Changes

Prior to the gaol, Simeone made two changes, taking off Arda Turan for Christian Rodriguez and Raul Garcia being replaced by Adrian. This made Atletico into more of a 4-3-3 with Suarez as the holding midfielder and Gabi and Koke in front of him as part of the midfield three. The change in shape allowed Atletico to put more pressure on Milan and forced their midfield and Emanuelson to drop a bit deeper. Atletico won the corner that led to Costa’s goal following the change and and a run from Adrian onto a Juanfran pass that forced Emanuelson to concede a corner.

Milan’s changes were less inspiring. De Sciglio had to come off after just 26 minutes due to an injury and was replaced by Abate. In the 78th minute, after a foul from Costa, Balotelli was forced to leave the field with a shoulder injury. The final change saw Kevin Constant come on for Poli, which allowed Essien to slide into central midfield with Constant on the left, but the change had little influence on the match.

Conclusion

Diego Simeone will undoubtedly be the happier of the two managers, but Seedorf and Milan will certainly feel that they deserved much more from the match and would have had at least two goals if not for the brilliant saves by Courtois on the Kaka and Poli efforts in the first half.

Atletico have been one of the best defensive teams in Europe so far this season and will certainly be encouraged that they lead 1-0 before the next leg of the tie at the Vicente Calderon.