AC Milan, the only remaining Italian team in the Champions League wait for Atletico Madrid who are joint top leaders of La Liga in an exciting clash at San Siro on Wednesday night. After Milan had a disastrous start to the campaign, they have found some momentum under the new coach Clarence Seedorf. Under Seedorf, Milan have got 10 points out of a possible 15 with only Juventus managing to score more (11) in that period. On the other hand, Atletico Madrid have been in scintillating form this season and victory at Santiago Bernabeu was one of the best highlights of their season.
After watching 30 Atletico's match highlights (24 La Liga + 6 CL), I'll be posting some of their strategies which they have followed all throughout this season and various statistics on how Atletico have scored and conceded based on these 30 matches. Talking about the man behind this foundation Diego Simeone, he is a former Internazionale and Atletico Madrid player. He is known to field a very disciplined side at the back. He has created a perfect counter attacking team around their captain Gabi and their talented asset Koke. The quality of the services to their two forwards is something Diego Simeone is certainly proud of. The attacking players love to run between two defensive players of the opposition and the result is mostly indeed a goal.
Atletico's defence has been top notch this season conceding only 19 goals. They have conceded three goals from outside the box. Three of the goals have come after a through pass between the two defensive players and simultaneous conversion from inside the box. This defence has almost been error-proof by conceding only three goals because of bad clearances or mistake by any defender (not including GK here). Thibaut Courtois has been responsible for two blunders which has led to the goal. Atletico have conceded 2 goals from free-kick routine, 2 goals from crosses, 2 penalties, 1 deflected goal and 1 goal from inside the box.
Looking at their attack now, they have scored 74 goals. One of the primary source of their scoring is from their crossing. Their ground crosses have been accurate and either of Raul Garcia or Diego Costa can score from anywhere inside the box. They have scored 23 from crosses which constitutes about 31% of their goals. Another source from where Atletico have benefited is their through balls which accounts to 14 goals out of which 10 goals have been through balls between the two centre backs which have resulted in goals. That's quite a lot, isn't it? Atletico have also been brilliant in dead ball situations which has resulted in 15 goals out of which 8 have been scored from corners and 7 from free-kick positions. They don't rely a lot on penalties as they have scored only 5 goals from the spot. 14 goals from inside the box, 1 own goal and 2 goals scored after taking advantage of the opposition's mistake.
Talking from strategical point of view, Atletico is one of the few teams who totally give justice to 4-4-2 formation. The work rate of the midfielders is immense. Strikers are always ready to make a run across the box and through the defence. Defence line is shielded by none other than their captain Gabi. This team adapts pretty easily to their opposition style of play because of their organisation and they search for that one counter attack which can break the opposition down. When the opposition tries to attack through the wings, their side midfielders drop back to provide extra protection for the full backs which makes difficult to attack from there. When the opposition tries to attack through the middle, the two strikers drop back to help the team with one of their two central midfielder pressing ahead and the other one shielding the back line. This makes it very easy for the team to intercept and Atletico's attack usually begins from the wings.
Atletico initiate the attack sometimes by launching a straight long ball to either Costa or Raul Garcia from defence, the side midfielder takes a run and receives the pass. The side midfielder is supported by the full back who can takeover from him and cross into the box, out of which most of them are ground crosses. The difference maker here is the accuracy of crosses and beating of man-marking to score which makes Atletico so special. They have been doing it a lot this season and often the late runs into the box result in goals which makes this side totally unpredictable in this area. The other characteristic of this team is the creativity in midfield which always has a vision of creating goal scoring chances which they do. They have scored 10 goals from a through ball between the last two defenders. Costa's pace and physical strength is very difficult to deal for the defenders.
How the current Milan side can stop Atletico Madrid? The primary objective of Milan tonight should be towards the back 4 organization. The full backs namely Mattia De Sciglio (on the right) and either of Urby Emanuelson or Kevin Constant (on the left) will have to run down the flanks to support the Milan attack since Atletico crowd their wings when the opposition attacks. This will provide Milan wingers some support while going ahead. The centre backs will have to keep in check the runs of the oppositions' attackers and they need not try to setup the offside trap which will cause a huge problem to them. Nigel de Jong will shield the back 4. We can expect him to be playing more as a centre back rather than a defensive midfielder to keep Atletico away from scoring.
Courtois, on loan from Chelsea has established himself as one of the best goalkeepers of La Liga this season. He is a great shot stopper but sometimes he tends to be nervous while charging ahead and during set-pieces. Mario Balotelli's long range shooting is going to be very essential for Milan and he can test Courtois from distance.
Whenever Atletico cross in the box, Milan needs to crowd the box with many players inside since they are very good in finding spaces inside the box and Milan needs to avoid giving that much space for them to score. Milan are sometimes way often isolated in the attack with Mario alone up front facing 5 opposition players which breaks away the attack right away. Poli and Taarabt have to be very close to Mario whenever he gets the ball. The 12th man of Milan tonight is going to be none other than San Siro. No matter how poor Milan were last year, they did manage to win 2-0 against Barcelona at home. They know how to play against big teams at home. Champions League is Milan's DNA and their impressive performances against Barcelona since the past few years at San Siro prove it.
This match at San Siro is going to be a cracker after Atletico make a comeback into the group stages after 4 years. Experience will be very crucial which might favour Milan but Atletico are in the form of their life which makes this tie more exciting!
Really very informative article. Photos are just awesome. This sharing concept is a good way to enhance the knowledge pool about football. Thank you very much for this post.
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