Atletico Madrid 2-2 Real Madrid: Atleti's energy dominates midfield, but proves unsustainable
The starting line-ups
Despite Real's early lead, Atletico dominated the first half – but tiredness caught up with them.
Diego Simeone decided to leave David Villa on the bench, using Raul Garcia as a number ten.
Carlo Ancelotti continued with the midfield and defence that had thrashed Schalke, but went for cautious options at full-back.
This was a standard Madrid derby: high-tempo and scrappy. Karim Benzema put Real into an early lead following a set-piece, but from then Atletico dominated. Real remain the title favourites – see online betting.
Raul Garcia
Simeone's key decision was the use of Garcia in the role behind Diego Costa – rather than using Villa as a second striker – and he had a significant impact on the game.
First, he did a good marking job on Xabi Alonso, Real's deep-lying playmaker, and prevented the league leaders from working the ball through midfield easily. Although Villa's work rate has been impressive this season, such a strict and important defensive job required a proper midfielder.
But Garcia has also developed into a useful auxiliary forward, too, popping up inside the penalty box regularly this season to provide an additional goal threat, particularly in the air. Here, he was less of a goalscoring option himself but linked nicely with Costa, creating the game's clearest chance for the striker just after half-time. Because of his all-round game, his inclusion was definitely justified.
Atletico physicality
This was an incredibly stop-start, physical midfield scrap – exactly the way Atletico like it – and part of Real's problem was their lack of ability to cope physically. Ancelotti has stumbled upon this 4-3-3 system which gets the best out of Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo, and boasts amazing technical quality in the centre of the pitch, but the one obvious question was whether a midfield of Alonso, Angel Di Maria and Luka Modric could cope physically against a genuinely strong, powerful midfield unit.
Real weren't losing a particularly high number of tackles, but they were overrun collectively by the force of Atletico's midfielders, particularly with the wide players drifting inside to further Atletico's advantage in that zone. Atletico are superb at inviting risky passes into the midfield before suddenly pouncing collectively and turning defence into attack quickly, and that's what they did throughout the first half, applying great pressure in the middle third and preventing Real working the ball forward.
Koke and Turan
Arguably Atletico's best players were the two wide midfielders, for their contributions with and without possession. With the ball, they drifted into positions either side of Alonso – the 4-3-3's weakness, particularly when the holding midfielder is forced to cope with a number ten – and caused Real serious problems. They combined nicely for the equaliser.
They were extremely disciplined without the ball,
Related Posts
Atletico Madrid 2-2 Real Madrid: Atleti's energy dominates midfield, but proves unsustainable- Real Madrid 4-1 Atletico Madrid (AET): Real snatch late equaliser at end of cautious first 90 minutes before becoming rampant in extra-time
- Atletico Madrid 0-0 Chelsea: Atletico unable to successfully adapt against defensive opposition
- Barcelona 1-1 Atletico: Simeone's side seal historic title victory at the Camp Nou
- The Big Match Tactical View: Real Madrid v Barcelona
Barca Odds on as Real Labour