Atletico Madrid Have Form and Depth to Challenge Anyone in the Champions League
A 2-0 win in the Vicente Calderon on Tuesday was enough for Atletico Madrid to seal their place in the UEFA Champions League knockout phase, beating Galatasaray for the second time in the group to ensure the Turkish team could no longer catch Los Colchoneros.
Antoine Griezmann scored a brace to push Atleti level on points with Benfica at the top, with the two sides set to clash on the last matchday of the group.
In the first instance, despite qualification being assured, Atletico should look to play a strong side to attempt to seal top spot in the group—and then, later in the season, they should be confident about their chances of a long run to the last eight or four of the competition once again.
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Benfica have already beaten Atletico, 2-1 at the Calderon, so Diego Simeone and Co. know they'll be in for a tough fixture if they are to succeed and top the group. The teams are level on points in Group C at present, so only a win will do in Portugal for Atleti to finish in first place.
Of course, the benefits in topping the group are clear. At present, finishing second could see Atleti drawn against the likes of Juventus, Bayern Munich, Zenit or possibly Chelsea in the round of 16. On the other hand, top spot currently goes into the draw against teams including Olympiakos, Gent, Roma and Manchester United—but plenty of those could change on the final day, as Atleti themselves are hoping to do.
Whoever they are drawn against, over two legs Simeone and his players know they are a tactical and physical match for anyone. While Barcelona have proved to be a cut above once again and Bayern Munich are enjoying a phenomenal season, is anyone else truly out of Atletico's reach?
Juventus, perhaps, though they have struggled domestically. Manchester City are good enough to trouble anyone—but they have yet to have any impact at all in Europe. There will be nobody who relishes playing Atletico, and the Spanish side will swat aside many teams—perhaps not with a vast scoreline difference but certainly with impressionable difference in the number of chances created.
System Switch
The past couple of fixtures in La Liga and the Champions League have seen Diego Simeone vary his team lineup, not in personnel but in shape. Atletico started against Real Betis with a 4-3-3 instead of his usual 4-4-2, and while that returned for the match against Galatasaray, there was a continual shift during the game to push an extra man out wide.
Gabi made that movement to great effect a couple of times, Griezmann pushed wide to form a three-man front line when the space opened up and Atleti's midfield in general pushed far higher up.
In truth, this match wasn't the best guide for how the team could play in Europe going forward, such was their superiority over Galatasaray. It was one-way traffic for most of the match, and 2-0 barely told the story of the game; against Benfica, Atleti will perhaps have to dominate midfield, in the same way they did this game, but be far more wary of telling counter-attacks as well as being more clinical in attack.
After the new year and into the knockouts, Matias Kranevitter will be at the club—he is the perfect controlling midfielder to sit at the base and provide the platform for the rest attack. Will that prompt Simeone to move to 4-3-3 more regularly, or will he want his two-man front line to continue?
Solidity and Individualism
Atletico's defence and their excellent record isn't just down to the back four and the goalkeeper; though, they have tremendous players in those positions. It is a team collective, an appreciation of the roles needed to be performed by each and a willingness to do the hard work off the ball to first prevent the opposition winning.
As rigid and at-times impenetrable as Atletico are out of possession, they also have an enormous amount of talent and technical ability when on the ball. Some of the football they produced against Galatasaray gave the perfect example of how the team has progressed over the past month or two, with much quicker link play and a number of clear chances on goal.
A sharper Luciano Vietto would have taken at least one of his opportunities after coming on, while Griezmann, Fernando Torres and Yannick Carrasco all showed tremendous skill and ingenuity to create chances for themselves and others.
It's a fine balancing act to not be overly defensive because of their strengths, nor to allow the forwards so much leeway on account of their talents that they ignore the other side to the game—but Diego Simeone has long proved himself capable of getting both traits out of his players, and there is every reason to think this Atletico side can go on and be among the front-runners for the Champions League again as a result.
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