Match date: 7 February 2015

It wasn’t that long ago that the two sides met in the Copa del Rey, which saw Atletico Madrid advance and later lose to Barcelona. That puts this match in perspective a bit. Atletico Madrid have begun to turn the tide against their rivals over the past few years and has made the Madrid derby very exciting. Despite Atletico’s recent success though, it was Real that beat their rivals in the Champions League final last year.

Diego Simeone made a few changes to his side, perhaps the most notable being Godin and Miranda starting together in the league for the first time since Atletico’s 1-0 loss to Villarreal in the middle of December. Simeone set his side out in a 4-4-2 with Mandzukic and Griezmann partnered up top.

While Atletico were able to recall their best central defenders back into the side, Real and Ancelotti were without both Pepe and Sergio Ramos, meaning that Varane and Nacho were partnered at the back.

Atletico Dominate Opening, Attack Out Wide

The opening 30 minutes of the match, during which Atletico went 2-0 up, the home side were completely dominate. Their defensive shape was good, as was their pressing, but, perhaps slightly different to many Madrid derbies, they were the ones that had more possession of the ball, which left Real very frustrated and switched off. Atletico’s dominance started from the front with Mandzukic and Griezmann pressing well and forcing Nacho, Varane, and Casillas to play the ball long rather than into Kroos, who was Real Madrid’s holding midfielder. This works well against Real Madrid, as Valencia demonstrated in a riskier fashion in their 2-1 over Real earlier in the season. As they did in that match, Real again struggled to compete in the air, especially in midfield with Isco and Khedira against Tiago and Gabi, with Turan’s narrow positioning allowing him to win a good amount of headers as well.

When Atletico Madrid won the ball back, they looked to attack quickly in the wide areas, particularly down the right where Arda Turan was typically found in a 1v1 situation against Fabio Coentrão and often having to deal with Juanfran’s overlapping runs, creating a 2v1, with Ronaldo positioning himself every high up the pitch. In those 2v1 situations, then, Atletico found a huge amount of success, with a great example being the game’s opening goal. It was a 3v2 in that situation with Isco and Coentrão defending against Turan, Juanfran, and Gabi and it was far too easy for Juanfran to receive the ball from Gabi and put his cross which found Mandzukic at the back post who laid the ball off for Tiago to score.

Overloads in wide areas have become a facet of Atletico’s play under Simeone and, in fact, all four of Atletico Madrid’s goals were scored from attacks in the wide areas. This isn’t much of a surprise, however, because as the game went on Atletico began to attack down the left as much as they had the right in the opening minutes and it created a huge imbalance in the Real Madrid defence.

Real Madrid: 1 Shot on Target

It is somewhat incredible to think that a team, that includes a front three of Ronaldo, Benzema, and Bale, could manage just one shot on target and that shot came from Illarramendi, who forced Moya into a save in the 80th minute. It speaks volumes about Atletico’s defensive organisation and shape.

Atletico forced Real Madrid to play into the wide areas, which, with the likes of Bale and Ronaldo, is an area where Real Madrid does well. However, Ronaldo and Bale’s influence on the match was snuffed out by Juanfran and Siqueira, especially with Turan and Saul tracking back well and helping out their full backs. Turan was particularly effective in doing this and his physical battles with Ronaldo left the Balon d'Or winner visibly frustrated.

2-0 down and struggling to create chances, Ancelotti made a big decision in bringing on Jese for Khedira, changing Real Madrid from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-4 with Isco and Kroos in midfield, Jese and Bale on the left and right in support of Ronaldo and Benzema. It left Isco and Kroos with a lot of work to do in midfield, especially when trying to deal with Atletico’s counter attacks in the wide areas. Jese and Bale would get caught high up the pitch so Isco and Kroos would have to slide out wide which left the centre of pitch even more spread and vulnerable.

Going forward with the 4-2-4, Real Madrid still struggled to create chances. Jese was subject to the same physicality as Ronaldo was and Bale continued to lack a final ball and struggled to get into threatening situations. In the middle, Isco and Kroos found it hard to work the ball into Ronaldo and Benzema as there was little space between the the Atletico back four and midfield and Turan and Saul played very narrow, continuing to force Real to play into Bale and Jese in the wide areas. Below is a good example of Real’s struggles in the second half. Notice where Turan and Saul are and notice that Carvajal is being pressed by Griezmann and has only Bale as a forward option.

Mandzukic and Griezmann

The duo did an excellent job against Varane and Nacho and worked incredibly well with one another. Mandzukic’s movement, often dropping deep or pulling to the left side of Atletico’s attack, created space for Griezmann to run into which, along with Atletico’s overloads, caused more imbalance in Real Madrid’s defence. With Mandzukic causing havoc with his movement, Griezmann managed to get into Real’s penalty area in 1v1 situations often and he tested Casillas more times than Real as a whole tested Moya. Both strikers got goals in the second half and Mandzukic set up Tiago’s opener after good control from Juanfran’s cross. Their defensive work was just as impressive, however, both dropped behind the ball when Real Madrid had good spells of possession and disrupted the likes of Isco and Kroos.

Conclusion

A huge win for Atletico Madrid, who move within four points of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga. Simeone’s side were able to take advantage of Pepe and Sergio Ramos’ absence with Mandzukic and Griezmann taking control of the game from the front, both dominating Nacho and Varane with and without the ball.

Atletico’s quick start made it incredibly hard for Real to get back into the match, even with Ancelotti’s half time change froma 4-3-3 to a 4-2-4. It left Real even more exposed to counter attacks and Atletico were able to continually attack Real in the wide areas.

Atletico play Celta Vigo in their next fixture, while Real play Deportivo, as Barcelona, at the time of this writing, are now within a point of Real Madrid.