A brief analysis of how the defensive organisation of Atletico de Madrid, masterminded by Diego Simeone, beat Bayern Munich (managed by Pep Guardiola) in the Semi Final 1st Leg of the 2016 Champions League.
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2. This will look at how Simeone beat Guardiola over the first leg in the 2016
Champions League Semi-Final.
1st Leg: Atletico de Madrid 1-0 Bayern Munich
(Saul, 11’)
4. Defensive Organisation Overview
Atleti used a medium defensive block to engage Bayern
for the 1st half- they would press the ball carrier between
the half way line and 5 yards into the opponents half.
In the 2nd half, Atleti used a deep block, alternating
between a 4-5-1 and a 4-4-2. Pressure was applied by
midfielders once the ball was past the first line (Striker/s).
Simeone would change to a 4-5-1 to deal with the
numerous crossing situations they face, but a 4-4-2 to
compact the centre of the pitch more.
Deep Block 4-5-1
Medium Block Deep block 4-4-2
5. Bayern Munich Attacking (Threats)
Here, we will look at:
- The Inverted Full Back
- Wide overloads
- Attacking 1/3 play
6. How did Atletico defend vs the Inverted Full Back?
• The aim of this is to create an overload centrally (in the ‘half spaces’) and as a result pull
opposition players out of position in order to create gaps to play through. Often, teams who
have come up against this have been left unable to react sufficiently. Some teams cede
possession and space and drop into a low block, which is partly what Guardiola wants.
But how did Simeone deal with this?
How….
- Firstly, Atletico play(ed) very strict zonal-man marking. If a player entered the channel of, for
example, Agusto Fernandez, he would press. This way, the team remained in their 4-4-2 shape
and didn’t get dragged out of position easily.
- Good approaches from the ST’s when pressing the CB’s; their run blocked off the central
overload and forced play wide and away from the possible advantage of Lahm’s positioning.
- A lower line of engagement from the ST’s; they dropped onto the double pivot of Lahm/Alonso.
- Compactness: It may sound obvious, but the midfield four tucked right in to cope with this
situation.
7. Bayern only used Lahm as an inverted Full Back during this match, Bernat would go inside in the final 1/3
but more in the form of underlapping runs. Guardiola wanted to keep his wingers in Douglas Costa &
Kingsley Coman wide to get them 1v1.
As you can see, Bayern took up a 3-2-1-3, or a 3-3-4 shape when this happened.
8. • Zonal-Man Marking
If Lahm received in the ‘half spaces’ but in front of the block, then it would the nearside Winger (in the example below, Koke)
who would press him.
To compensate for this, the Full Back (below, Felipe Luis) would stay wide to threaten a pass into the winger to discourage
1v1’s/force play back.
Against the structure that Bayern used in this example, Atleti’s midfield bank of four would look to occupy the two central
channels (as you can see,
the pitch has been split into four vertical channels); this allowed them to deal with Lahm drifting inside to try and create
overloads.
9. • Screen/Cover Shadow
- The angle of approach from Torres or Griezmann when pressing the CB’s of
Bayern was really important in blocking off & discouraging passes away from
the potential pass between the lines in Lahm/Alonso.
10. • Drop onto the Pivot’s
-Griezmann and Torres leave Martinez and Alaba (CB’s) free and drop onto Lahm/Alonso (white
circled). This allows the midfield four to cope with any additional movements in front of and
behind the line (retain numerical equality).
11. How did Atletico defend vs overloads?
• The aim for Atletico in dealing with Bayern’s attempts to create a free man in wide areas was
to, when possible, mark the players surrounding the ball carrier and ultimately outnumber
Bayern in that half of the pitch.
How…
- The back four would ‘slide’ across, meaning the nearside CB would position himself close to
his Full Back, marking an attacker.
- The midfield line would mirror the defensive line in terms of shape (layers of cover/depth).
This would compact space between the lines and also the space surrounding the ball.
- The farside Winger and Full Back were positioned to anticipate a switch of play, meaning
Bayern struggled to find 1v1/2v1 opportunities (that they were searching for).
- Torres & Griezmann would come across to mark/block off central passes, but would leave the
Bayern CB’s free, as they were only seen as an option to circulate the ball again as opposed to
an immediate danger.
12. • Wide Overloads
- Bayern struggled to penetrate centrally between either of Atletico’s lines, so they attempted to create wide overloads in an
effort to outnumber and unbalanced Atleti.
Philip Lahm’s movements played a dominant role in dictating how Bayern would look to build up play/progress the ball. If he
positioned himself in a more traditional Full Back position (wide) then it was looking to create wide overloads that Bayern
could either exploit, or play into, out of, before switching the ball in an attempt to find 1v1 situations.
13. Sliding across…
- The back four would shift across, with the nearside CB (Giminez) taking up a high position to cover Juanfran, but also mark
the attacker creating a possible numerical advantage. Savic also comes across to act as an extra layer in the line, marking
Lewondowski. By the line shifting across so far, it allows Gabi to stay in a central (+ covering position to Saul), avoiding Bayern
removing his ‘layer’ of coverage to back line.
14. Note the position of Savic who is within marking distance of Lewondowski- the CB’s of Atletico had to retain close distances with their Full Back
in these situations. Both midfield and defensive lines displayed the same movements with two covering players in each line, whilst the nearside
Striker (Torres) would come across and block any inside passes.
We can see with that Atleti have 7 players (6 around the ball) against Bayern’s 5 (4 around the ball) in their own half, with the out of picture
players (Juanfran, Giminez, Saul) all providing balance in anticipation to the switch of play- this was a likely outcome as the objective of Atletico
in these situations was not to win the ball but to force play backwards and away from goal.
17. Summary
- Atletico’s Striker Screen proved to be an invaluable part of their defensive
gameplan.
- Started with a medium block, but switched to a low block in the 2nd half,
alternating between 4-4-2 and 4-5-1.
- They pressed aggressively when a player in their zone had the ball; this
was used to deal with Lahm playing as an Inverted Full Back.
- The backline stretched wide to compensate for attempted overloading of
the ball-side Full Back.
- An unmatchable work ethic from every player.
