Match date: 17 May 2014

Barcelona and Atletico Madrid met for the last match of La Liga to determine where the title would go; Barcelona or Madrid. Barcelona needed to win, while a point for Atletico was enough to secure the title.

Both sides were able to name close to their strongest sides. Tata Martino opted to start Cesc and Pedro over Xavi and Neymar, with Xavi’s absence very surprisingly considering the magnitude of the match.

Simeone named both Diego Costa and David Villa in his starting XI, which is surprising considering Atletico were away from home, only needed a point from the match, and had Raul Garcia a midfielder-turned-second striker on the bench.

Atletico’s Shape, Mentality

Though the match itself was not too tactically interesting, especially if you have watched both sides throughout the season, Atletico’s mentality throughout the match was to be admired. They are known as a team that relies heavily on defensive shape and organisation and conceded the least amount of goals in La Liga, but here, they were willing to push forward, despite knowing that even a 0-0 would see them win La Liga.

As they have all season, Atletico played in a 4-4-2, with a very narrow midfield four. Koke and Turan, and later Raul Garcia, primarily stuck to their side of the pitch, which is not usually how the two wide players play, but with little sustained pressure in Barcelona’s half of the half, especially in the first half, the two stuck to their side, creating a bank of four across the midfield. David Villa and Diego Costa, and later Adrian, would drop behind the ball and on Busquets as Barcelona made their way up the field, taking away the passing lanes in the middle of the field and opening up the wide areas, which Atletico allow their opponents to play in.

Atletico’s shape allowed them to keep the ball in front of them and they were able to deny Messi much of the ball. At times Atletico would press high up the pitch, another pillar of their excellent season so far, and won the ball back well.

Unfortunately for Atletico Madrid, their adventurous mentality caused an injury to Diego Costa. Atletico were on a break and Costa tried to keep up with play, only to pull up.

Barcelona’s Attacks

It is unsurprisingly that Dani Alves and Adriano saw plenty of the ball against Atletico. Tactically, with Atletico’s narrow midfield, the wide players were always going to get on the ball, which is really what Atletico wants to have happen. They look for teams to play in the wide areas, only to pounce when the ball is recycled back through the middle. Adriano was able to test Courtois from far out, but Alves, in particular, had more influence on Barcelona’s attacks.

He was the best outlet for Barcelona in many of their attacks, but his final ball was an odd one. He was very willing to play lofted balls into the penalty area, which surprisingly allowed Pedro and Alexis to get a headed opportunity each, but neither really test Courtois. With Miranda and Godin, in the centre of Atletico’s back four, towering over the likes of Pedro, Alexis, and Messi, it was interesting that Alves was keen on playing deep crosses rather than try to beat Filipe Luis and get to the byline to play a ball across.

Tactically, it was not surprisingly that Barcelona’s goal came from this area of the pitch. The space was there for Barcelona to use, they just failed to use it in a convincing manner for large majorities of the match. The manner of this particular goal was extraordinary, however, with Alexis’ goal just sneaking in at the near post.

Second Half and Changes

Diego Simeone was forced into two changes in the first half, with both Diego Costa and Arda Turan departing the field due to injury. They were replaced by Adrian and Raul Garcia, respectively, and Atletico continued with a 4-4-2.

Perhaps the story of Atletico’s season was summed up in the few minutes after half time. With two of their top players out, Simeone was able to rally his players and they went out in the second half and immediately put pressure on Barcelona, which led to them scoring the equaliser and, ultimately, winning La Liga. Up against the wall, Atletico pushed on and persevered, as they have done all season. Certainly no one named them to be the favourites to win La Liga, they were consistent and impressive throughout the season despite competing against two sides, Barcelona and Real Madrid, that have incredibly higher financial capabilities backing them.

At 1-1, Atletico continued to press and play in an adventurous style, slowly dropping deeper, comfortably absorbing the pressure from Barcelona. Martino made changes, but they were arguably conservative considering the situation. Alex Song was brought on when Sergio Busquets, rather than Xavi, who can play in the same role as Busquets, but is certainly more reliable and more of an attack minded player than Song. Neymar was brought on for Pedro later, but was ineffective.

Conclusion

Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone deserve the league title and it would have felt a bit wrong had Barcelona been able to win it on the last day. The Catalan side has been underwhelming for most of the season under Tata Martino, who has since been dismissed. Despite mathematically capable of winning it, many would have felt that the year’s best side, Atletico, failed to win it. On top of their La Liga victory, Atletico still have a chance to be crowned champions of Europe as well as they prepare to play Real Madrid in Lisbon.