Match date: 17 March 2015

Bayer Leverkusen took a 1-0 lead in the tie after a goal by Calhanoglu, who had an excellent second half against Altetico after the Spanish side allowed him more freedom when Simeone change his side’s shape from a 4-1-4-1 to more of a 4-4-2.

Being at home and in need of a goal, Simeone started his side in a 4-4-2 with Griezmann and Mandzukic starting up top while Gabi was dropped to the bench and Tiago out of the squad due to suspension. In their place, Koke played in centre midfield with Cani coming in on the right and Mario Suarez alongside Koke.

Coming into the match, Bayer Leverkusen had kept clean sheets in each of their last five matches, including the 1-0 win in the last leg of this tie. Schmidt made just one change to that winning side with Toprak coming in for Papadopolous at centre back.

Pressing

Overall, the match was very entertaining, if not tidy, because both sides are always full of energy. In the opening minutes of the match, neither side could get control of the ball, both were swarming the ball carrier trying to win the ball back as quickly and as high up the pitch as possible in order to launch their next attack. The teams did win the ball back in the opposition’s half on numerous occasions throughout the 120 minutes of play, but in the opening stages of the match, a lot of the pressing meant that both sides were forced to play hopeful long balls rather than trying to build attacks and the centre backs were almost the only players involved on the field. As the match went on, however, both teams tried to keep hold of the ball, but were still pressed well, though at times done ineffectively. Below, you can see the amount of tackles won in the opposition’s half from both teams. Both were relatively effective when they managed to attempt a tackle in the opposition’s half, showing that the combination of energy and tactical triggers was working well.

There were times, particularly from Leverkusen, when the pressing was lacking in its efficacy and left the back four a bit exposed, especially to the quick counter attacks that both sides possess. Below is a perfect example of a breakdown of Leverkusen’s pressing. Koke has just won the ball back and is immediately surrounded by four Leverkusen players. Of the four, Bellarabi and Calhanoglu are behind the ball and cannot close down Koke in an effective manner while Bender and Castro fail to both close Koke down quickly enough, but more importantly, neither get into Koke’s forward passing lane and the Atletico Madrid captain is able to pick out Mandzukic.

Leverkusen’s pressing did two things, however, the first being that when they managed to get a tackle in, they were largely successful and were able to play quick, vertical passes in an attempt to unlock Atletico’s defense. The second being that, when they failed to win the ball, they usually committed a foul, which slowed Atletico’s play, allowed Leverkusen’s players to get behind the ball, and forced Atletico to try to build up their attacks with patience and through the likes of Koke in the centre of the pitch where Leverkusen were able to maintain good numbers.

Patterns Develop Early On

As the game began to settle, which it did after about ten minutes, the attacks of each side began to develop patterns. Leverkusen looked to attack down the right through Bellarabi and Calhanoglu. The Turk was unable to find as much space against Atletico’s 4-4-2 in this leg as he did in the first and so was forced to drift into the wide areas, but for Leverkusen it worked well as they looked to overload the right side of the pitch. The German side, however, struggled to create chances, with credit to Miranda and Gimenez, and managed just one shot from inside the penalty area which occurred in the first half. Bayer Leverkusen just edged Atletico in terms of possession, but they lacked the pacy, direct play that has brought them success under Schmidt. Altetico’s narrow and compact shape had a lot to do with this and it forced Leverkusen to play a bit slower and forced them to play wider, which came through Bellarabi and Calhanoglu.

Atletico Madrid, especially with Koke in centre midfield, attacked down the left side of their attack through Turan, who had an excellent match. Cani played on the right, but rarely got involved in Atletico’s play, unlike what one would imagine Koke would have done had he been on the right side of midfield rather than playing through the middle. The fact that both sides looked to play down the same side of the pitch makes sense when thinking about the styles of play. Leverkusen like to play quick, vertical passes meaning players get forward which leaves gaps, so Atletico Madrid simply looked to exploit the games left by Bellarabi and Hilbert, when he too moved up, on their counter attacks. Turan was one of the best players on the pitch. He worked hard to win the ball back and was creative going forward so the more Atletico were able to attack through him the better.

Simeone’s Changes, Atletico On Top

At halftime, Simeone took off Cani and replaced him with Raul Garcia, in what could have easily been a like for like change and Simeone could have kept things the way they were. However, for large parts of the second half, it looked as though Simeone’s side were playing a lopsided 4-4-2, or rather, a 4-3-3. Turan was tucking inside a bit more and Raul Garcia was playing high on the right with Griezmann through the middle and Mandzukic noticeably in a wide left role. Simeone could have done this for a few different reasons. The first half mostly saw the two sides relatively even in terms of quality of play and if Leverkusen were able to get another goal, that would have meant that Atletico would have had to get two more. With Griezmann’s pace troublesome for the Leverkusen centre backs, Mandzukic wide, and Garcia high, this forced the Wendell and Hilbert to drop off a bit and become unable to support Son and Bellarabi in the wide areas, which hindered Leverkusen’s chances to overload the wide areas. Below is a good example with the lines showing the shapes. Typically in this situation, when Atletico were going forward or defending in a midblock they looked much more of a 4-3-3, when they dropped deeper the shape was very much a 4-4-2.

Defending in a 4-3-3 also allowed Atletico Madrid to get a better hold on Calhanoglu. The Leverkusen number 10 changed the complexion of the tie in the first leg when he scored his goal, but only after Simeone changed his side from a 4-1-4-1 to a 4-4-2, eliminating the holding midfielder. Now with a lead in the game and a reason to be a bit more cautious, SImeone returned to that setup that allowed him to keep Calhanoglu from having a significant influence.

These changes, which included Simeone changing his side later on to much more of a 4-4-1-1, along with Atletico keeping the ball for longer periods and controlling the tempo of the match allowed the Spanish side to create the better chances. Leverkusen had just three shots on target from the second half onward and all were from outside the box while Atletico too had just three chances during the same stretch, but were all from inside the box and more Leno into good saves.

Conclusion

A good matchup that unfortunately had to be decided on penalties, some of which were very poor. The goalkeepers did very well during the shootout, however, especially Leno who made an absolutely incredible save against Koke that left the Spaniard visibly asking how it was possible.

Roger Schmidt with of course feel hard done by, but he praised his young side for their performance at what he thinks is a difficult stadium to play at.

Simeone will of course be happy that his team were able to get the goal they needed and then stop a team like Leverkusen from scoring an away goal. Atletico Madrid move on to the quarterfinals.