Atletico Lineup

Atletico started the game with Augusto Fernandez partnering Koke in midfield and Nico Gaitan starting on the right flank but with freedom to sometimes drift towards the left or centre. Unfortunately for Atletico, Augusto picked up a severe injury (ruptured ACL) midway through the first half and had to be replaced by Gabi. Carrasco started on the left but like Gaitan was very fluid in his movements. Meanwhile the dynamism of Juanfran and Filipe Luis was crucial for Atletico going forward. Angel Correa meanwhile started the game ahead of Gameiro and played behind Griezmann.

Red Card

Faycal Fajr was sent off at the end of the first half for receiving a second yellow. Fajr's departure meant Deportivo struggled to retain possession in the second half and had to defend in a deep block with a 4-4-1 shape. Atletico spent a lot of the second half trying to find the opening goal with crosses and one of their favourite scenarios can be seen above. Juanfran has overlapped here and is an advanced position. He lays the ball back to Gaitan and while the ball is moving the Deportivo backline move up to try and regain a bit of territory and push out of their box. As this happens Atletico's forwards try and time their run into the box to meet the ball so they are onside when the cross is played in. This crossing move can be very effective but it failed to produce the result Simeone would have hoped for in the game.

Juanfran at the backpost

Another move Atletico tried a few times involved Juanfran making an unmarked run towards the byline in order to receive a ball and put it across the face of goal. Atletico scored a goal in the Champions League semi-final of 2014 against Chelsea from a move like this where Hazard failed to track the run of Juanfran. Koke likes to operate in the left-half space and slightly deeper then most of his teammates, giving him time to look up and pick good passes of any range. He looked to find Juanfran making a run like this multiple times during the game but like the previous move, this one also failed to result in a goal for Atletico.

By-line passes

Atletico eventually scored after Kevin Gameiro came on and supplied the assist for Griezmann to smash home in front of the goal. The illustration above is a move which Atletico Madrid tried on numerous occasions and is the one which they ended up scoring from. Juanfran has the ball on the right wing (sometimes it was Gaitan), and slips a pass towards the by-line for a more central player (Correa in the image above, but Gameiro for the goal), to run out and meet. All that player has left to do is cut the ball back across goal and hope for his teammate to get on the end of it. Eventually Griezmann was able to score for Atletico from this exact circumstance.

Atletico got another win which keeps them in the title hunt with Real Madrid and Barcelona. The expulsion of Faycal Fajr certainly aided them, as Deportivo had a much stronger footing on the game with all 11 players on the pitch. Atletico were tasked with breaking down a deep block in the second half, and although they struggled for a while they eventually found the goal they needed. The vast majority of Atletico's chances were created from wide areas as seen with the three commonly used patterns above.