Barcelona 1-1 Atletico: Simeone's side seal historic title victory at the Camp Nou
The starting line-ups – and Atletico’s enforced early changes
Atletico fought back from 1-0 down to record the most amazing title victory in years.
Gerardo Martino surprisingly left out Xavi Hernandez from his starting XI, with Neymar also only on the bench. Cesc Fabregas and Pedro Rodriguez were preferred.
Diego Simeone named two strikers in an attack-minded line-up, although he lost both Diego Costa and Arda Turan through injury before half-time, with Adrian Lopez and Raul Garcia replacing them.
Barcelona had spells of pressure, took the lead and rallied late on – but overall this was another superb defensive performance from Atletico, meaning they ended the season unbeaten against Barca, with one victory and five draws.
Right-backs
In a positional sense, one of the most obvious features of the game was the advanced positioning of both sides' right-back. In previous meetings between these sides, Daniel Alves has generally been the freest player on the pitch, finding space out wide as Atletico form a narrow defensive shape, and the same thing happened here.
Alves pushed forward and pressed high up the pitch, winning possession inside the Atletico half a couple of times, which is relatively rare for Martino's Barcelona. He also had plenty of crossing opportunities, although there's the inevitable problem about the lack of genuine outlets for these balls – one excellent cross was played onto Pedro's head, but the forward couldn't control his finish.
With Barcelona dominating possession, Alves' opposite number Juanfran had fewer opportunities to get forward, but when he did, his runs were almost decisive. Most notable was one early run in behind to meet Gabi's pass, which was reminiscent of the move Atletico played twice at Stamford Bridge to defeat Chelsea.
The more the season continues, the more these patterns of play have become obvious. Another key feature of Atletico's play is their clever free-kicks, with Simeone's side favouring both a 'Zanetti' short free-kick around the wall, and a move Stoke City often use, where they reverse a central free-kick towards the near post, rather than hitting it towards the group of players at the far post.
Atletico bravery
The most impressive thing about Atletico's performance was their commitment to attack. This, after all, was a match where 0-0 would have suited them perfectly, and they're a side very capable of playing out a 0-0 because of their excellent defensive record.
But that didn't happen – Atletico broke quickly and attempted to get numbers forward when possible. They often found themselves with three or four players ahead of the ball when moves broke down, but were excellent at delaying Barcelona's attacks, preventing the home side from breaking quickly. The man in possession would be pressed quickly while other players recovered back into a good, solid defensive shape. Combined
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