Galatasaray vs. Atletico Madrid: Winners and Losers from Champions League Game
For Atletico Madrid, Tuesday night's meeting with Galatasaray in Istanbul in the opening round of matches in the 2015-16 Champions League group stage was about righting a wrong of last season. Thanks to two first-half goals from Antoine Griezmann, Diego Simeone's men were able to do exactly that, walking away with a 2-0 victory from the Turk Telekom Arena.
Indeed, in the corresponding match in 2014-15, Atleti made a similarly long journey to Greece to take on Olympiakos and suffered a surprising 3-2 defeat that made their path to the top of the group more difficult than it should have been.
This time, no such mistake transpired.
In an absolutely dominant opening half, Atletico repeatedly swarmed all over Galatasaray, forcing mistakes and breaking into space with speed and venom thanks to an attacking setup boasting Griezmann, Luciano Vietto and Jackson Martinez. The Frenchman's pair of strikes just seven minutes apart were hammer blows to the hosts.
After the interval, the home side found a little more footing in the game and were able to wrestle away some of the ascendancy, but in typical fashion, Los Colchoneros dug in and saw out a comfortable opening victory.
Across the following slides, we take a look at the winners and losers of Tuesday's clash.
Winner: Antoine Griezmann
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If you haven't yet seen Antoine Griezmann's opening goal against Galatasaray, do yourself a favour and do so.
Though Alvaro Morata's stunner against Manchester City will headline the highlight reels, the Frenchman's first strike on Tuesday was subtly sublime—the technique exquisite, the placement precise and his movement remarkable in its efficiency.
Any striker will tell you, letting a ball come across your body and striking it like that is stunning.
Seven minutes later Griezmann followed it up with a second, poking home a knockdown header from Diego Godin, doubling his Champions League goal tally with Atletico Madrid in a single game.
Losers: Lionel Carole and Fernando Muslera
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Those of us with a glass-half-full outlook will put down Antoine Griezmann's second goal to Koke's fine cross, Diego Godin's ability to win an aerial duel and Griezmann's knack for being where he should be. But really, it was a case of Galatasaray being the architects of their own mess.
In a bizarre moment midway through the first half, left-back Lionel Carole allowed a ball to trickle past him and out of play, despite the last touch clearly coming off a team-mate. As such, Atletico Madrid were gifted a needless corner.
With the resulting kick, Koke fizzed in a typically dangerous-looking ball that found its way first to the top of the penalty area, and then back to Koke. Take two.
The Spaniard went deeper with his second cross, sending goalkeeper Fernando Muslera into a panic as he lost his positioning and haphazardly flapped his arms in a failed attempt to make a clearance.
As such, Godin's knockdown header found Griezmann for a tap-in. A pair of Galatasaray errors gifted Atleti a second.
Winners: Atletico Madrid's Youthful Brigade
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After last season's first-round stumble against Olympiakos in the Champions League, one felt Diego Simeone might play this one against Galatasaray safe. It was the sort of encounter you thought Simeone would be delighted to simply scrape through, one in which he'd use his known quantities and most reliable lieutenants to get a result but not necessarily a performance.
Instead, the Atletico manager went for the bolder option, turning to the youthful faces of Luciano Vietto and Saul Niguez. He was rewarded for the inclusion of both.
Indeed, in midfield, Saul was particularly impressive playing in the double pivot alongside Tiago, effectively breaking up Galatasaray attacks with tackles and interceptions before pushing forward when the opportunities arose.
In short, captain Gabi wasn't missed at all.
Further ahead, the inclusion of Vietto for his first Atletico start was also successful, with the Argentinian's pace and movement worrying Jason Denayer and Semih Kaya, creating space and channels for Antoine Griezmann to run into from his starting berth on the right.
Thus, the new-look Atleti we've discussed all summer showed signs of coming together on Tuesday.
Oh, and Jose Gimenez was excellent again, too. It's remarkable that we just expect that from him now as he's only 20.
Loser: Lukas Podolski
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In the first half at the Turk Telekom Arena, Antoine Griezmann provided a sumptuous example of how to strike a ball coming across your body. In the second half, Lukas Podolski gave an example of how not to.
After excellent work from centre-back Jason Denayer to break lines and get forward, Podolski found himself with Galatasaray's best chance of the game when Denayer squared it to him at the top of the penalty area.
Like for Griezmann's opener, the ball came across from Podolski's right and onto his left boot. But whereas Griezmann turned to grace to find the net, Podolski tried to send the ball back to his previous stop in north London, seemingly wanting to thump one into Arsene Wenger's head for all that time he spent on the bench at Arsenal.
Needless to say, he missed.
Then, not long later, with another chance in front of him, he fell over his own feet.
Winner: Atletico Madrid's Champions League Credentials
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OK, so it was just a victory over Galatasaray. Yes, Galatasaray were pretty awful at times, too. And certainly, there are far sterner tests to come for Atletico Madrid.
But—and this is the crucial bit—Atleti on Tuesday did what serious teams do in Europe: go away, stamp their authority early, neutralise the crowd and then cruise home.
In fact, Atleti's first-half performance was almost flawless in its execution. Though they had less of the ball, they totally dictated the contest, storming Galatasaray in numbers in midfield and hunting the spaces left behind. It was Atleti doing what Atleti do best: luring you into their trap. The efficiency of the whole thing was impressive.
As a result, the men from the Vicente Calderon have already put down a strong marker in Group C, demonstrating that this evolving Atletico Madrid has the ability to kill games, not just fight them.
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