3 Things We Learned: Atlético Madrid vs FC Barcelona
Barcelona edged Atlético 2-1 in a thriller of a game at the Vicente Calderón.
Lionel Messi
The little Argentine showed how important he is to Barcelona, once again. It was a tight game with Messi proving to be the difference. The deciding goal was scrappy, but the Catalans deserved it. Their pressure was telling, and Atlético finally crumbled near the end. Messi was at the heart of it as he thrived in the packed penalty box with his excellent ball control in tight spaces.
In terms of the second goal, Barcelona were building up play around the opposition box. Ivan Rakitić headed the ball to Samuel Umtiti who turned the defender and passed to Luis Suárez who was on the overlap.
While this was happening, Messi was moving slowly to the middle of the box, and then suddenly he ran forward into space, which provided Suárez with an option. The little magician fired a first time shot which was blocked by Stefan Savić, but the Argentine poked the rebound past Jan Oblak to score the decisive goal.
Once he got into the game, Messi was excellent. Initially, the Atlético pressure was successful in stopping the supply to Messi and the front three. However, Barcelona were much better in the second half, and a lot of this was down to Messi’s creativity. The Catalans may be struggling currently, but Messi will always be there to bail them out.
No one can doubt his commitment either because the celebrations for the goal showed how much it meant to him. After that goal, he was tracking back, and putting pressure on the ball, which really emphasised the effort he put in for the team. His desire to win trophies has not diminished, and was clearly on display in this match.
Formation Change
The inclusion of Jérémy Mathieu in the lineup was the first clue that something was different in terms of Barcelona’s shape. Three centre-backs in the team, including him, and no left-back suggested either three at the back or the Frenchman playing as the left-back. Technically it was both because they played a fluid shape of 3-4-3 diamond when attacking and 4-4-2 when defending.
This is an interesting shift from the 4-3-3 formation, which is the default at Barcelona. It was a smart move from Enrique because it gave the team more balance. However, it took the team a while to get used to this narrow approach, and Atlético used this uncertainty at the start of the match. They were unable to take advantage of this pressure, though, which allowed Barcelona to come into the game.
The key change, which allowed this formation to thrive, was bringing on Rakitić for Andrés Iniesta. It was a strange performance from Iniesta because the game seemed to go by him. He didn’t seem to keep up with the intensity of the game, for whatever reason, but it’s probably a temporary issue rather than anything major.
The Croatian midfielder gave Barça the added energy and dynamism they needed, though. His work in the ‘engine-room’ allowed the creative players to thrive as well as reducing the workload of Sergio Busquets, which improved his performance.
It’s no coincidence that the best part of Barcelona’s performance came after this change, but there were other minor factors that contributed as well. Hopefully, Enrique continues to use this formation in the future because fans and pundits have been calling for this for a while. Either way, critics can’t call Lucho complacent after this bold tactical change in such an important match.
Energy Levels
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Another important factor was the energy levels of both teams caused by match scheduling. The midweek Champions League tie between Atlético and Bayer Leverkusen gave them little time to recover. In contrast, the Catalans’ last game was against Leganés at the weekend. This combined with the intense pressing style of play that Diego Simeone employs gave Barça an edge at the end.
Next: Atletico 1-2 Barca: Player Ratings
The Atlético players started to tire, and this led to spaces opening up as they struggled to press the ball. Barcelona’s attacking players were able to exploit this because of their positional knowledge.
The Blaugrana were also able to use their higher energy levels to quickly move the ball around to disorganise Los Colchoneros’ defence. This as well as the inclusion of Rakitić and André Gomes allowed Barcelona to control the game, and create key chances which eventually won them the game.