When it comes to the offensive football representative teams in world football today, Liverpool and Manchester City will undoubtedly be at the top of the list, and when it comes to defensive football, Simeone's Atletico is obviously the most distinctive.
In the champions league quarter-finals, the encounter between Manchester City and Atletico Madrid, in a way, represents the collision of two of the most extreme tactics in world football today, whether it is the first leg to give Manchester City 73% of the possession, or 0 shots, reflecting Atletico's dedication to defense and the determination to beat opponents from the tactical level.
Of course, the final game was not good, the two legs of the game, the two sides only scored 1 goal, but a total of 14 yellow cards and a red card, and Atletico's big move in the game, as well as the dispute between the two sides after the game, put Atletico on the cusp.
This article, less about controversial topics, talk about the tactical arrangement of the two teams.
Guardiola once again led the team to the quarterfinals
Just as before the start of the match, As atletico madrid was about the last 8 opponents Guardiola wanted to meet, and even if they met the most unpredictable Liverpool, it might be a wonderful game.
And Atletico, on the other hand, will only bring trouble to Manchester City!
What happened to Atletico in The Second Round?
After the first leg, Simeone confirmed in an interview that the team will play differently in the second leg, which must be different from the first leg, for the simple reason that this must be the strategy that Simeone decided before the first leg of the game, and it is also the only choice that Atletico can make if they are behind in the first leg of the Champions League.
Compared with the first leg, Atletico's desire to fight back is stronger, if you have an impression, you will know how negative Atletico's frontless formation is at home to Manchester City, the game comes to the second leg, Atletico's possession rate and Atletico 46 open, while the number of passes increased significantly.
Atletico have only about 200 fewer passes than City
In the first leg, the number of passes between the two sides was compared, Manchester City had 724 passes, and Atletico had only 304 passes.
Arguably, Simeone delivered on his promises, and Atletico's attack and organisation were indeed more aggressive.
In the arrangement of the starting lineup, Atletico right-back started by Llorente, Lemar started on the left side, the change is not very big, still a 541 lineup, but relying on home advantage and the momentum of the backwater battle, Atletico did burst out a lot of energy.
In the first half of the game, Atletico still responded more to Manchester City by counter-attacking, but with the arrival of the second half, Atletico occupied more initiative, which is actually related to the physical fitness of both sides.
Atletico played half a game in the league at the weekend to replace Griezmann, Koker, De Paul and other players, although they lost to Mallorca, but Atletico has long been out of the league title, the impact is not large.
Manchester City fought a battle against Liverpool at the weekend, including De Bruyne, Foden, Bernardo Silva and other players have played a whole game, plus this game is away from home, Atletico really have an advantage in physical fitness.
De Bruyne was replaced in 65 minutes
In the 65th minute, Guardiola also made a substitution choice, the first person he replaced was De Bruyne, which also surprised many fans, although his performance was relatively average, but he scored 4 goals for Manchester City in four consecutive games is an indisputable fact, Guardiola's back move is fast, agile Sterling, there is no doubt that Manchester City is also ready to recycle in the second half, ready to try to counter-attack whether it is effective.
The game between the two managers in the game is also quite interesting.
Atletico's counterattack
If Atletico want to fight back, on the one hand, after the physical fitness of Manchester City players has declined and the intensity of the pressing has weakened, on the other hand, more attacking personnel must be invested.
This picture is very interesting
Above, 35 minutes after the second leg, Condobia received a return pass from his teammate and adjusted for a long-range shot, which was Atletico's first shot in the two-legged match.
This is very similar to some of the places that Chatball Jun began to mention: even if the second leg had reached the point where Atletico had to attack, Atletico still did not rush, but continued to defend and counterattack for more than 30 minutes, and then slowly pushed the front back, putting pressure on Manchester City.
In the 6 or 70 minutes after this shot, Atletico completed 12 shots in succession, isn't it interesting? After Atletico's physical fitness declined, they resolutely began to try to shoot frequently, and Manchester City, which still had the lead, also responded to the changes in Atletico's tactics and no longer insisted on shooting and laying siege.
After all, Manchester City, apart from the fact that their attack is the top in the world, they defend it, and that is not weak!
Let's take a look at this counterattack to strike
After the typical over-the-top play, this is also the most commonly used routine between the two teams, this attack invests less resources, and does not worry too much about the opponent after getting the ball, through a rapid offensive and defensive conversion, forming a counter-attack threat.
This was a good opportunity for Atletico to equalise at the beginning of the second half, but Griezmann's speed did not surpass Laporta far, but instead he was blocked by Laporta before cutting inside, but it was a good attempt, because City will inevitably be jealous of Atletico's counterattack.
Let's look at the counterattack in the first half
It was also a long pass over the top, but this time Atletico found a player who was Felix, and in this counter-attack, Manchester goalkeeper Ederson's performance was crucial, and if he did not run out of the box to break the siege, Felix was likely to complete a shot.
And in the counterattack, Felix's threat is undoubtedly more direct and terrifying than Griezmann's.
The two-legged match against Manchester City intuitively showed Manchester City's problems, the main one being the lack of a centre-forward!
Facing Manchester City, strict defense may be able to get a draw, but if you attack out, you may encounter a fiasco, but if you have top counter-attack players such as Son Heung-min and Kane, strict defense may still win!
It just so happens that Atletico are a team that is very good at guarding against death, and from the perspective of the game process, the gap between the two games and manchester City and Liverpool's Tianwangshan battle is huge, but if you look at it from a different style point of view, this is still two wonderful tactical games.
Conclusion: "Swinging the bus" is not the "death" of football, but football should not be violent
Some fans are very dismissive of Atletico's "utilitarian" football, but football is often like this, two teams play, there is always a team whose strength is inferior, as fans should give the weaker team the right to live and choose, because it is often such a "utilitarian" football, in order to let the weak team find the opportunity to upset and create miracles.
Simone simply chose what he believed
Defensive football is not the "death" of football, but in this game, Atletico madrid is really unsatisfactory in the handling of some issues, and the two sides have repeatedly erupted into conflicts, which is actually not right.
After Atletico were eliminated, City's advantage in the Champions League final four is obvious, can Real Madrid beat Manchester City, which is faster than Chelsea's attack and defense changes? This is a tough problem for Real Madrid, who beat them 4-2 on aggregate over two legs in 2019/20.
Compared with then, Liaoqiujun can even be described as Real Madrid is older and Manchester City is more mature, and at the same time, for Guardiola, who is driving the world's most expensive team, it is also supposed to help the team achieve a breakthrough in the Champions League, but the final result may still depend on whether there are injuries or personnel absences before the game.