Match date: 22 April 2014

Atletico Madrid and Chelsea have been two of the best counter-attacking sides in Europe this season and their match-up was set to be an intriguing one on paper. There are two types of defensive teams, those that defend to draw the opposition in, proactive, and those that defend to kill the game, reactive.

Diego Simeone was able to name close to his preferred starting XI, with Arda Turan only fit enough for the bench and Diego taking his spot in Atletico’s 4-4-1-1/4-4-2 shape.

Mourinho continued selected a very defensive line-up with Ramires, Luiz, Mikel, and Lampard, all players that can play as a holding midfielder in Mourinho’s preferred 4-2-3-1. With those four in the side, it looked much like a defensive 4-1-4-1, with Willian arguably the most (and only) creative player in the side.

Chelsea Sit, Atletico Struggle to Adapt

Throughout the season, Atletico have been able to play teams in their counter-attacking style. They sit deep, absorb pressure in two banks of four and once they win the ball back they act quickly and precisely. It’s what they know and how they thrive, and how they’ve managed to have a healthy lead in La Liga at this point in the season. The best way to stop a counter-attacking team is obviously to limit their opportunities to counter-attack and so Mourinho set out his Chelsea side incredibly deep, preventing any space behind his defense or midfield for Atletico to play inside. Everything was in front of the Chelsea players, aside from Torres, who was isolated throughout. Mourinho has talked in the past about how important the space between the lines is, so not only did he limit the space behind his back four, but had Lampard and Luiz sit very close to Mikel, making the 4-1-4-1 look like a 4-5-1, with the 5 midfielders just five yards off the back four.

Above you can see a perfect example of Chelsea’s deep defensive line and the connected unit of the back four and midfield, with Mikel out wide near the touchline, covering for Ashley Cole, with Chelsea’s full backs narrow throughout the match to help defend crosses to Diego Costa and Raul Garcia.

With Chelsea so deep, Atletico struggled. They failed to adapt to a team that sat deep (or in this case, parked the bus), as they are usually the side that are willing to absorb pressure. In all of their matches this year, Atletico averaged 49% possession, whereas in this match, they had 69% possession, which is obviously significantly higher. Unfortunately, they were unable to adapt their style of play to a allow for more patient build up play. There was very little variety in their play. They were slow in switching play, as they are unused to playing at a slow tempo and show their switches were off-tempo in trying to unsettle the Chelsea back four, which allowed the defenders to set themselves defensively before Atletico put a cross in. Below, you can see Atletico’s attempted crosses, of which they had 46, about twice as many as they usually attempt, along with the concentration of Chelsea’s headed clearances on the penalty spot.

With their crossing relatively ineffective, Atletico needed to try something different, but they failed to draw Chelsea out of their shape. Gary Cahill and John Terry, and later David Luiz, did an excellent job at staying put and not getting drawn out, but Atletico did little to entice them to do so. They rarely attempted to play intricate passes around the Chelsea penalty area and consistently looked to get the ball out wide to Filipe Luis and Juanfran. Diego looked the player most likely to create something in the middle of the pitch, but in the end, Atletico were forced to take shots from well outside the penalty area as there was just little space behind Chelsea’s back four for the likes of Diego and Koke to slide the ball into.

Chelsea’s Attacks

Mourinho seemed content all match, a very relaxed figure compared to Simeone in the opposite technical area. He set his side out to secure a 0-0 draw, and would have been incredibly happy had his side been able to sneak a 1-0 victory. As a result of Mourinho’s team selection, Chelsea’s attacks were incredibly limited and Fernando Torres was isolated and had relatively poor movement throughout. Below, is UEFA’s positional chart from the first half. It is easy to see the difference in support for each team’s striker. Atletico are on the left, Diego Costa is 19. Chelsea are on the right, Torres is 9.

Torres did okay with the ball at his feet, he won Chelsea free kicks in decent areas, only for them to be wasted. He also took on the Atletico defenders, but did so in relatively unthreatening areas of the pitch and was a bit too hasty in trying to get forward, rather than wait for his teammates to work their way up from their low block shape to support hm. In the end, Chelsea had just five attempts, with only two on target, both easily dealt with by Courtois.

Conclusion

It was unfortunate, but predictable, that Jose Mourinho would set his side out in such a fashion, considering his record in semi-finals during his first stint at Chelsea. Regardless, what could have been an interesting battle between two similar styles, with differing philosophies, ended in Chelsea sitting deep and Atletico failing to adjust their play effectively.

The return leg at Stamford Bridge looks to be an even tougher task for Chelsea, however, with Cech and Terry having to leave the field in this match. They also face Liverpool on Sunday, giving them little rest in a match that can really shape the title race in the Premier League.

Atletico will have to anticipate that Chelsea will play a bit more football in the second leg of the tie, but just as those that say the likes of Pep Guardiola’s sides need a Plan B, so does a side like Atletico. They looked void of ideas and while, again, Chelsea will play a bit more in the second leg, Atletico may still be forced into playing with a patient build up.