Match date: 13 August 2020

Looking at European pedigree, Atletico came into the game as favourites, having appeared in two Champions League finals under Simeone and winning a Europa League title in 2018, while Leipzig have continued their rise over the last decade to being quarterfinalists in the Champions League for the first time.

Simeone stuck with his usual 4-4-2, but opted to partner Diego Costa and Marcos Llorente (who scored two goals against Liverpool in the last round to get Atletico here), leaving João Felix and Morata on the bench. Another interesting omission was Thomas Partey, who had previously featured in all of Atletico’s Champions League games this campaign.

Nagelsmann’s setup was a by far the more interesting and impactful on the game with flexibility in his back three/four and his box midfield.

Leipzig’s Flexible Shape – Atletico’s Issues

It was difficult to exactly pin down Leipzig’s shape early own, particularly with the movements of Sabitzer and Laimer as well as Olmo and Nkunku’s support of Poulsen and a huge part of this was due to Timo Werner’s transfer to Chelsea (and the COVID situation that led to him leaving prior to the ‘end of the season’). Werner had missed just one Champions League for Leipzig this season and was either leading the line or with a partner in the other matches and so Nagelsmann had to tweak his system slightly to get the best out of the players, although his principles remain the same and he trains his team in situations and spaces.

In possession, Leipzig looked like a 3-3-3-1 or a 3-1-5-1 with Kevin Kampl as the deepest player in a midfield that switched between a diamond and a box. Typically Klostermann, Halstenberg, and, most prominently, Upamecano would look to play into Kampl, but if he was being pressed by either Saúl or Herrera either Laimer or Sabitzer would rotate into a deeper position along side Kampl to aid in the build up. This narrower midfield for Leipzig meant they had an overload centre of the field against Saúl and Herrera, so Leipzig were able to counter press relatively effectively and prevented any quick balls into Costa, Llorente, or an advancing Carrasco.

There were a few issues here for Atletico in their efforts to stop Leipzip’s build up: Llorente and Costa weren’t doing an effective job in pressing Klostermann, Halstenberg, and Upamecano which allowed playing into an unmarked Kampl or into a dropping Sabitzer relatively easy. Klostermann and Halstenberg would drop off into wider positions and Costa and Llorente could have looked to force the ball down the line, but were slow to close down. On top of this, Upamecano would push just high enough to allow a pass from Gulácsi to bypass Costa and Llorente’s press if he got a pass back from Klostermann or Halstenberg. When Llorente and Costa sat in their mid block, however, they did not do a good job screening Kampl and were typically too far apart and on the same line, as you can see in the left image above. This meant that one of Saúl or Herrera had to take a chance to step out to close down Kampl, but that opened up passes into Leipzig’s five in front of Kampl, which Upamecano was happy to play.

Once Leipzig were able to progress the ball, typically Klostermann would step into midfield to act as a second pivot player, with Laimer and Sabitzer capable of dealing with any potential counter attacks into that space by Carrasco and Lodi. Leipzig’s first goal shows this flexibility, with Klostermann starting the phase higher than Upamecano and Halstenberg, only for Halstenberg to later setup forward, although not centrally in the same way as Klostermann and it Halstenberg’s maybe unexpected dribble that causes the first issues for Atletico.

With Klostermann, Laimer, Sabitzer, and with Olmo drifting across, Leipzig were able to overload Lodi and Carrasco a few times, drawing the Atletico midfield across as well. This opened up Angeliño on the far side and there were a few times where Leipzig were able to switch the ball quickly enough to allow the loanee space, however his crossing was poor and it summed up Leipzig’s play in the first half: quite good at breaking the first line of pressure and getting forward, but poor when it came to creating chances inside the Altletico penalty area.

Out of possession, Leipzig would shift to a more recognisable 4-2-3-1. Klostermann would drop into a right back role with Angeliño at left back. Laimer would typically come inside next to Kampl while Nkunku, Olmo, and Sabitzer would support Poulsen.

When in this shape, they stuck to defending in a mid block, which made it difficult for Atletico to play through the middle to Saúl and Herrera or into the feet of Costa and Llorente and were instead forced to play into wide areas, where Leipzig were comfortable defending. Even when Lodi got forward to support Carrasco, Laimer would come across to help.

João Félix Introduced, Tyler Adams Introduced

Leipzig scored in the 50th minute and João Félix was Simeone’s answer to going down. He replaced Herrera, with Koke moving centrally next to Saúl and Llorente moving to the right. As we saw with Mbappe’s introduction in the Atalanta v PSG game, João Félix’s introduction was massive. The Portuguese forward gave Atletico something very different to Costa and Llorente as he dropped in between the lines, picked up the ball on the half turn, and was able to dribble at the Leipzig defenders, which was not something they had to deal with prior to. Up until then, they dealt with long balls in Costa with relative ease. João Félix also helped create overloads on the left side of Atletico’s attack with Lodi and Carrasco and his run for the penalty encapsulates all of the attributes he brought to the game.

His introduction forced Nagelsmann to make his own changes as well, with Tyler Adams replacing Laimer. This gave Leipzig a similar type of player as Laimer in terms of versatility; Laimer shuttled between right wing back and centre midfield and Adams has played in a variety of roles for Nagelsmann throughout the year, however, he did play more of a wing back role to help deal with João Félix’s tendency to drift into the wide left area. Below you can see where the Portuguese forward was able to receive the ball before and after Adams’ introduction.

It was, of course, Adams that scored the winner for Leipzig as well after some quick play and a lovely pass from Sabitzer to Angeliño found the Spaniard in a good amount of space. In that situation Angeliño played his best pass of the game, cutting the ball back slightly to Adams at the top of the box. The easy pass for the left back here would have been a low, drive cross into the box as Schick (who had come on for Olmo) and Poulsen were both sprinting into the box along with the Atletico back four, but the pull back found Adams in a lot of space and, with a deflection, he put Leipzig ahead.

Upamecano

The two central players for Leipzig were fantastic. Upamecano had to deal with Diego Costa throughout the game and was able to match up with him well in the air and dealt with balls into the Spaniard’s feet well, not allowing him to turn or have much time to bring others into play. On the ball, the young French centre back was fantastic. He typically had time to pick his pass out, but when he stepped forward with the ball, he was able to drift pass Atletico players before finding a free player. Either on the dribble (you don’t often have a centre back complete three take ons in a match) or with a pass, he was able to effectively break the lines well for Leipzig.

The young Frenchman was incredibly comfortable on the ball and was the reason why Leipzig were able to have so much success building out of the back. As mentioned before, he was the one that stayed central on goal kicks, with Klostermann and Halstenberg opening up wide in the penalty area. It was clear that the two wider centre backs and Gulasci wanted to get the ball back into Upamecano, who could then pick his pass out going forward to break the Atletico press. He was comfortable receiving in a variety of situations that you would not expect a centre back to do so, notably receiving the ball with his back to the rest of the field, but comfortably turning with it into space.

Looking Forward

Questions have to be asked about Simeone’s team selection. Partey was one of Atletico’s best players in the last round against Liverpool, breaking play up and distributing relatively well. Against a more fluid Leipzig midfield than Liverpool’s, it seemed that Partey would have been just as influential in breaking play up. To also have João Félix, although he hasn’t been a huge goal threat this year for Atletico, on the bench and instead play a midfielder in Llorente up top with Costa, it begs the question as to whether Simeone was far too cautious in this match.

The next round sees Nagelsmann come up against Tuchel with the latter coaching the former when they were at Augsburg II. After Nagelsmann had his playing career ended due to injury, Tuchel gave him a job as an opposition analyst, so the two Germans will have a good idea of what to expect from one another.