Match date: 17 May 2015

A game that had significant meaning for both sides; a win for Atletico Madrid would secure third place and a Champions League spot, while Barcelona would clinch La Liga with a win.

Diego Simeone made several changes to the side that drew 2-2 against Levante with Fernando Torres, who scored in that match, coming in for Mandzukic up top to partner with Griezmann. Mario Suarez came in for Tiago in midfield, while Godin was in for Miranda in the back four. Simeone continued with a 4-4-2.

Luis Enrique named his strongest squad, with the exception of Suarez who is currently hurt. Pedro filled in for the Uruguayan and played through the middle of the front three in Barcelona’s 4-3-3.

Messi, Rakitic, Alves

Over the course of the season, Messi has moved from a central position to the right side of the attack, while the midfield three went through some troublesome times with Rakitic and Iniesta playing far too wide. There were times when Luis Enrique seemed to leave his team exposed with such spaces in midfield and it was clear in the first half of the season that he was not getting the best out of Messi (a perfect example being Barcelona’s loss to Paris Saint Germain earlier in the season). However, since the turn of the year, Messi has been back at his best and Rakitic’s movement has become much better. Today was an excellent example of how the two players have worked to utilise the space on the right side of the pitch, along with Dani Alves. Many times in this match, Messi would drift inside into an inside right area, but would stay behind Pedro, connecting the midfield and attack, like a number 10. So much of Messi’s best play against Atletico Madrid came from this inside right position and when he picked the ball up deeper in midfield.

So while Messi was drifting inside, Rakitic and Alves used the space on the wide right of the pitch well. The fluidity and understanding between Messi and Rakitic during these movements was excellent. Of course there were times when they would occupy the same spaces as Barcelona typically looks to overload the area of the pitch with the ball, but Rakitic, in particular, allowed space in the middle of the pitch to open up for Messi with his movement. When Rakitic stayed central and Messi drifted inside, Alves provided a wide option on the right and received the highest amount of the passes in the match. Below you can see where Rakitic and Alves received most of their passes. Notice that Rakitic received the majority of his passes in the area of the pitch that would be considered a wide right role, where Messi starts from.

When Messi did move inside, and Rakitic moved outside, it caused problems for the Atletico back four. Siqueira could not track Messi’s inside runs or Barcelona would take advantage of that space through Rakitic and Alves, but neither Godin or Gimenez did a good job in dealing with the Argentine, even when he found himself well inside or around the Atletico Madrid penalty area. When Barcelona had the ball in deeper positions, Rakitic would often check out wide, bringing Suarez with him, and opening up space for Messi to check into and receive the ball. This allowed Messi to get on the ball deep and run at the Atletico Madrid back four as he did after receiving the ball in the example below.

Barcelona Defensively, Atletico Struggle Going Forward

Messi scored the goal that brought La Liga back to Barcelona, but a lot of credit has to be given to the back four and Claudio Bravo, not only because of their contributions in this game, but for the entirety of the season. This game, however, summed up the performances that have allowed Barcelona to get into this position. Early on in the match, Atletico Madrid was the better side and forced Bravo into two really good saves, but for much of the match, Bravo was untested. A lot of the credit has to go to the back four, especially in this match. Over the years, one of the weaknesses of Barcelona’s teams has been counter attacks, something that Atletico Madrid thrive on. In this match though, despite the high amount of possession that Barcelona had, meaning they were getting players up the pitch, Atletico were rarely able to break into a meaningful counter attack. Mascherano, in particular, stopped a number of potential counter attacks that Atletico looked to build through Griezmann.

Throughout the match, both sides pressed one another. Barcelona consistently pressed higher than Atletico Madrid and did relatively well with Pedro leading the away side’s efforts. While Barcelona looked to press high, Atletico were content with allowing Pique and Mascherano to have the ball most of the time and instead looked to get their tackles in when the ball was played into the likes of Busquets, Iniesta, and Rakitic.

Atletico were not at their best going forward. As mentioned above, Barcelona were able to maintain defensive stability and stopped the home side’s counter attacks almost before they were able to form. Atletico struggled to work the ball up the field with any pace or intent through the midfield or in the wide areas through the likes of Turan and failed to create enough chances to truly test Bravo, apart from the opening few minutes of the match. Long balls forward were cut out well by Barcelona and swift counter attacks came to nothing for Atletico Madrid.

Changes

Simeone made the first three changes of the match. His first change saw Mario Suarez withdrawn in favour of Raul Garcia. This pushed Koke into centre midfield alongside Gabi and meant Turan played on the left, with Garcia on the right. Garcia became an outlet for Atletico Madrid. Up until that point, they relied on Griezmann’s pace (for the most part) to break at Barcelona. With Garcia on, and playing on the right against Jordi Alba, they had an aerial target that was most likely going to win most of this aerial duals. In theory, it was a good move by Simeone, however, with Barcelona’s sustained possession high up the pitch, it meant that Alba was able to push Garcia back and made it so the Atletico man did not offer this high aerial out ball, making his appearance influential than Simeone would have hoped. With a 1-0, Enrique’s first change, 12 minutes after Garcia was brought on, was replacing Alba with Mathieu, making Garcia’s aerial threat almost void.

Simeone’s second change was Mandzukic on to Turan and then Saul on for Torres, but neither had an impact on the match. Enrique’s other changes were about the same, with Xavi and Rafinha coming on, but at this point Barcelona were looking very comfortable.

Conclusion

Barcelona and Luis Enrique win La Liga and look to complete the treble as the season begins to end. The match today summed up Barcelona’s season, in a way, as they kept the ball well, maintained defensive stability, and got the result they needed. Barcelona have certainly been the best side in La Liga since the turn of the year and Simeone even acknowledged that the Catalan side deserved the league title.

Simeone’s side struggled to create chances through their typical play and were unable to find a way to really break down Barcelona. Torres and Griezmann were kept under wraps by Pique and Mascherano, while Turan had an inconsistent night.