The well-taken corner ricocheted off Fabinho and the ball fell kindly for Saul who tucked it inside the goal smoothly. Atletico got their early lead and that was the key moment of the game. There was no doubt to what the Rojiblancos would do for the rest of the game – defend and defend. The only choice for Liverpool now was to break them down and it is never easy to attack against Diego Simeone’s team when he is on the defence mode. Klopp’s men started plunging forward with Trent Alexander-Arnold trying to whip in his naughty crosses. Trent’s crosses weren’t good enough and Atletico didn’t have any difficulty in clearing those either. The 4-3-3 was on attack mode with Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum occupying the half-spaces on either side. While Henderson was moving much forward with Trent, Wijnaldum and Robertson started with the ball quite deep.

(Source: Atletico defended very well and they were very compact as well.(Source: Total Football Analysis

Atletico were very compact in midfield and offered almost no space whatsoever in the central areas which forced Liverpool to go wide. Both of Atletico’s strikers were covering the spaces in their own half offering support to their midfield, hence blocking the central spaces. Liverpool’s only way looked like their flanks and they did have some good amount of space on their right side.

However, Trent wasn’t at his best and Renan Lodi was tightly monitoring Mo Salah, who was getting into dangerous zones. As always, Liverpool’s defenders were all higher up the pitch, including their centre-backs. Van Dijk and Gomez were getting into the centre line very often, trying to spread the ball. There were times when it was kind of a diamond formation with Van Dijk occupying the bottom tip with Gomez and Wijnaldum being the right and left side tips while Fabinho acted as the upper tip, exactly where a number 6 operates.

Liverpool even tried switching plays with their long diagonals to the full-backs, who looked to exploit spaces behind their opposite counterparts. However, this was diligently dealt with by Simeone’s best midfielders, Saul and Thomas. They were consistently dealing with Liverpool’s attempt to break Atletico’s balance. Liverpool’s full-backs are one of the best in the world when it comes to deliveries. It is no surprise that Alexander-Arnold and Robertson rack up so many assists. Crossing and vision are their strongest attacking strengths.

However, Atletico managed to limit the dangerous duo in terms of quality deliveries. Robertson barely had many balls into the box while Trent was either overhitting them or finding an Atletico player, who cleared all such balls without much difficulty. This was mainly down to Atletico’s wide midfielders backing up their full-backs and in turn double teaming to prevent Trent or Robertson space and time to pick their pass. One interesting observation was how Atletico defended their own corners. They formed something that seemed like a safety net just outside the Liverpool box so as to prevent Liverpool from quick counters. Simeone was well-prepared for this match.



(Source: Atletico forming a safety net to prevent Liverpool counters.(Source: Total Football Analysis)

The half-spaces weren’t also really useful for Liverpool as Henderson found it hard to dictate and find killer passes into the Atletico box. At the half-time interval, Liverpool subbed off Sadio Mané, bringing cult-hero Divock Origi on. Atletico Madrid took off Thomas Lemar for Marco Llorente who moved to the right side of midfield with Koke switching to the left. Klopp admitted post-match that Mané was taken off due to the fear of having him sent-off.

The Atletico players were play-acting and making the most out of even the slightest touches involving the Senegalese. The first booking he got was a little harsh and it looked like the referee would’ve given up to the pressure and hounding by the Atletico players going forward as well. So, taking him off made sense. As for Lemar, he wasn’t really impactful and defensively, Llorente made more of a case than Lemar. Simeone wanted to cut off the build-ups in the flanks entirely.

The second half started just like the first with Atletico showing potency going forward. However, Liverpool regained possession and Atletico went back to do what they do best – low block defence. The “shut shop” idea was excellently executed by Simeone’s players as they followed exactly what the manager ordered them to do. The one and only good opportunity Liverpool had was when Fabinho lifted the ball up to pick out Salah who headed the ball wide of the goal. It should’ve been a shot on target but Salah fluffed the chance. It was the only time in the game probably where the Atletico defence were caught napping.

Klopp’s second substitution was to bring in Oxlade-Chamberlain for Mohammed Salah and that looked like a wrong decision. Chamberlain made little difference on the right-hand side and he had no room in potent areas where he could use his burst of pace to unlock the block and unleash shots. It looked almost impossible for the Reds to shoot from distance thanks to Thomas and Saúl who made the back four looks like a back six, blocking potential gaps.

Divock Origi also couldn’t influence the game as his directness went in vain with Atletico playing a deep block. There wasn’t much that he could do either and this wasn’t a game meant for a player like Origi to influence. Origi always tried to drift wide and despite having some space in the left central area, he did not exploit it. Atletico Madrid also had a quick chance to make it 2-0 on a counter but Alvaro Morata caught his own foot instead of the ball and the chance got squandered. Simeone’s men were quick and progressive when they had the ball. The midfield quickly passed the ball with Renan Lodi bursting forward from the left. Lodi was very much effective in going forward as well.

The game almost went away from Liverpool when they lost captain, Jordan Henderson through an injury. James Milner came on to replace Henderson and once again, Klopp had made a wrong decision. The likes of Naby Keita and Takumi Minamino were unused substitutes. These are the types of games where Keita was made for style-wise but he didn’t get an opportunity.



(Source: Origi failed to use the central spaces left for him. He mostly drifted wide and ended up being handled by Atleti defence. Liverpool didn’t use the central areas.(Source: Total Football Analysis

Vitolo and Diego Costa came in for Morata and Correa late in the game. Costa, as usual, won a few fouls and let one lashing from long range which was way off target, after creating space for himself. The match ended 1-0 in Atletico’s favour and Liverpool ended the game with ZERO shots on target. Just like the first half, Liverpool were non-productive in the second half too.

To the fans’ credit, the atmosphere was fantastic and it was lauded by Jürgen Klopp himself post-match. Simeone was jumping and gesturing towards the fans for most parts of the second half. The fans were fully on his side and Klopp compared the situation with the Anfield power as well. The referee had a tough game and made a lot of silly errors as well. Atletico Madrid also frustrated Liverpool with their play-acting and dirty tactics but take nothing away from their tactical prowess.

The tie isn’t over as it’s just halfway in but Atletico will look to do the same when they visit Anfield in March. Liverpool may well wrap up their league title by then if City drop points and they keep winning. Klopp and co will have to work their socks off if they are to beat this well-drilled and well-trained Atletico Madrid team. The power of Anfield will be something that Atletico will have to overcome as well. Some may have called this “anti-football” but in truth, football is about identifying the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses and exploit the weaknesses. That is exactly what Cholo did and that is why this was a classic Simeone masterclass and by all means, Atletico Madrid were deserved winners.