Atletico Madrid vs Liverpool: Tactical Analysis.

It was a fascinating match as Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool locked horns with Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid in Wanda Metropolitano stadium. The Champions struggled to break Atletico Madrid's defence but all was in vain. 

 Atletico Madrid players appreciating home fans after the final whistle. Image: The New York Times.

Atletico Madrid lined up in their traditional 4-4-2 formation with Alvaro Morata and Angel Correa leading the attacks while Thomas, Lemar, Koke and Saul were in charge of the midfield.

On the other hand, Liverpool lined up in their normal 4-3-3 formation with Salah, Mané and Firmino leading the attack. Fabinho, Henderson and Wijnaldum  steered of the midfield. 

It was clear from the start of the match, Liverpool went on an attacking mode while Atletico Madrid sat back and waited to hit Liverpool on transition. 

Atletico Madrid's intact 4-4-2.

Atletico Madrid is one of the best teams when it comes to sticking to their footballing philosophy. They remained in their 4-4-2 shape during attacks and even when defending. 

 Atletico Madrid remained intact in their solid 4-4-2 during attacks and defence. Image: youtube screenshot.

The Structure. 

Atletico's front line and defensive line weren't far from each other. The distance between those two lines was about 10-15 metres. This means that Atletico Madrid attacked and defended as a close unit. 

By playing this way, Atletico Madrid broke Liverpool's passing lanes and forced them to go wide. 

Liverpool's 3-2-5/2-3-5 attacking mode. 

Almost the whole game, Liverpool were attacking. They tried to switch into different shapes in order to get the numbers advantage against solid Atletico Madrid.

 Liverpool were on attacking mode from the beginning of the whistle and shifted to different shapes in the process. Source: youtube screenshot. 

Why Diego Simeone won the match:

1. Atletico Madrid's midfield dominance.

Diego Simeone wanted to take total control of the match thus made a strong midfield. Jurgen Klopp used numerous tactics to penetrate the Atletico Madrid's midfield in vain. Jurgen Klopp needed an extra man to neutralize Atletico Madrid. 

2. Aerial supremacy.

Another feature that gave Jurgen Klopp and his men headache was the aerial supremacy. Atletico won 25 aerial duels compared to Liverpool's 20. 

3. Pressing in numbers.

Whenever Liverpool were in possession, Atletico Madrid would press them in numbers hence forcing them to play the ball back to their own half. This always led to the blocking of passing lanes hence forcing Liverpool to go long or play back to their own half. 

 Firmino being pressed by Lodi and Thomas Partey. Source:This Is Anfield. 

4. Diego Simeone's in-game management. 

This helped a lot as Jurgen Klopp was busy causing problems Simeone was giving answers on the spot. Firstly, Klopp made Henderson to play as a right wing player but Simeone blocked all the half spaces and this tactic failed miserably. 

Klopp once again told his wingbacks to attack instead. This backfired badly as their crosses never found the target. Atletico cleared the crosses and forced Liverpool to start the build up process again. Mostly, Atletico won in terms of numbers when the ball was (in their own half). This helped them to prevent Liverpool from launching dangerous attacks. 

CONCLUSION:

Atletico won the match tactically and the full time results against the World Champions, Liverpool. A fierce second leg encounter will be witnessed in 3weeks time when Liverpool will host Atletico Madrid.

Last season, Barcelona were humbled and eliminated in the UCL at Anfield as Liverpool overturned Barca's 3-0 victory. Can Liverpool do the same to Atletico Madrid? Comment below and let me know.