Finally, the new season has started in Spain and that also means another opportunity for teams to show themselves. For the elite sides in the league it’s all about coming as close to the title as possible, but with Barcelona so dominant – that can prove to be very difficult. What’s next then? Qualifying for the UWCL. One of the teams missing out on UWCL is Atletico Madrid and they definitely want to qualify this season. In this analysis, we will look at their game against Sevilla and how they scored their goals.
Formation Atletico Madrid
Atletico Madrid started the game with a 4-3-3 formation in which the attacking intentions were quite clear. The backline consisted of Moraza, Menayo, Rodriguez and Lundkvist, aided by Lopez in the defensive midfield role. These five players formed the defensive side of the team. In attack, there were two attacking midfielders in Santos and Guerrero, who played as a double-10 and were the support for the attacking trio of Cardona-Ajibade-Ludmila.
Their intention was to use the wings and the attacking midfielders to overload the attacking areas and put pressure on Sevilla’s defence to force errors in that final third.
Atletico Madrid: goalscoring opportunities
Obviously, Atletico Madrid scored three times, but one of them was an own goal from Sevilla so we won’t discuss it here. The first goal was a mark of something completely different. The Madrid team started the play from the back where their central defenders were of huge importance going forward. They dictate play from the back and pass the ball to the players higher up the pitch.
In the video above you can see how Atletico Madrid use their central defensive duo to create a goalscoring opportunity. In the end, a long ball is converted into a through ball. They use their passing style of play to get the opposition out of their national position, and then they attack.
Also when Atletico Madrid recovered the ball in their own defensive third, they could be of great threat. They used their pace and direct style of play to get the ball to the other side of the pitch. By doing so the opposition was surprised and eventually it was another through ball that split open the Sevilla defence for a goal.
Final thoughts
It’s the first game of the season obviously, but the tactical ideas to create goalscoring opportunities can be already seen within Atletico Madrid’s play. The game against Sevilla wasn’t easy, but their tactics of creating space in the last line of the opposition’s defence with their passing style of play and through balls, proved to be effective.
