One away from Budapest
Lessons learnt from the home leg
1-1 away from England in a Champions League semi-final, confined in a hostile environment. Job done, I would say. You would have bitten your hand off for a result of this kind — surely?
Atlético Madrid are dangerous at the Metropolitano. The boisterous home faithful can provoke a frenetic contest. A diffident mindset will leave you overwhelmed.
Taking the sting out of the encounter was imperative. Don’t give the fans anything to latch onto. Providing them with energy creates the proverbial 12th man.
Thankfully, we rose to the occasion. Control asserted, crowd silenced. This was the case in the first half.
I was expecting a squash-buckling high press from Diego Simeone’s side. Avid Atlético watchers suggested this would be the case. Instead, opportunities arose to play short with ease. This allowed us to establish a foothold on proceedings.
Julián Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann led the press, in what was a nominal 4-4-2 structure. Noni Madueke, Viktor Gyökeres and Gabriel Martinelli pinned their back four; Atlético’s pivot of Johnny Cardoso and Koke locked onto Martin Ødegaard and Martin Zubimendi. Their wide midfielders, Ademola Lookman and Giuliano Simeone, marked our full-backs, Ben White and Piero Hincapié.
Essentially, this gave us the spare man in the buildup. William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães and Declan Rice overloaded Alvarez and Griezmann.
We maximised this advantage by utilising our trademark sequence: one of our centre-backs passes to David Raya; Raya passes to the dropping midfielder; the midfielder subsequently passes it to the free centre-back. And…we are out.
Alvarez initiated the pressure, bending his run from Saliba to Raya. He’s attempting to deny the direct pass into Saliba from Raya.
As a result, Saliba becomes the free centre-back. Alvarez intends to funnel us down our left. Likewise, if Griezmann pressed from big Gabriel to Raya, then the intention is to force us down our right.
Once Alvarez presses, Griezmann is caught in two minds: Either stay close to Rice or preempt an early Raya pass into big Gabriel. This indecision gave Rice that extra split second. That’s all you need. This allowed Raya to pass to Rice, who then found Saliba.
Saliba proceeds by carrying the ball forward. Atlético’s response was to retreat, dropping into a back five. Situationally, they shifted to a back six with Lookman defending low. This was in response to White’s forward movements.
Our use of the full-backs was key. Pushing them high, pinned Lookman and Simeone. This gave our midfield three the license to keep the ball outside of Atlético’s block.
This process was as follows: Break the front line of Atlético’s press using the spare man; Atlético drop off; our full-backs bomb forward to fix their defensive structure; Saliba, big Gabriel, Rice, Ødegaard, and Zubimendi are given license to retain the ball. Our goal was deserved. Everything pointed towards an emphatic display.
Except…Atlético made a slight alteration after halftime.
They pressed man-to-man (M2M): 1v1’s all over the park. My incessant dialogue on this topic attests to the ubiquitous nature of this approach in today’s game. Tactical homogeneity!
Cardoso aggressively pressed Rice, with big Gabriel being Griezmann’s sole responsibility. To my frustration, our reaction was to go long. Raya repeatedly favoured the aerial avenue, culminating in a hunt for loose balls. Atlético held their own. Control diminished.
The leg could have been lost between the 45th and 75th minute. One goal conceded — albeit a dubious one, perhaps— is a small victory for us.
The final 15 minutes were strong. It stemmed from us collecting the lion's share of second balls after Jan Oblak frequently went long.
Thirty minutes of suffer ball aside, we can be proud of our performance. I saw an identity; I saw technical proficiency, which we have desperately lacked in 2026.
On the day, I feared the worst. Perhaps this wasn’t rational thinking. My expectations were undoubtedly exceeded. We threw punches, took hefty blows to the chin, but walked away from the cauldron unscathed, having acquired further knowledge on Atlético.
One of the minor adjustments Mikel Arteta made was to Rice’s role without the ball. Typically, we push Rice onto one of the opposing midfield pivot players in the high press.
However, Zubimendi performed this duty. Roles were reversed. When Madueke pressed the left centre-back, Ødegaard and Zubimendi marked the Atlético pivot.
Perhaps perceived as meaningless minutia, but this tweak made a profound difference. Arteta accurately predicted Atlético bypassing our M2M press with balls over the top.
Chance creation through forcing high turnovers becomes redundant. There is minimal value in Rice pressing high in this context. Utilising him deeper provides greater value, such as increasing our propensity for loose balls, in theory. This is what happened. Rice became the quintessential Hoover.
Moreover, Alvarez and Griezmann are renowned for dropping off the last line into midfield spaces. Having Rice in proximity to these two was logical.
Interestingly, the one instance where Rice pressed high, with Zubimendi deeper, saw Atlético fashion a glorious chance with Lookman. Let’s keep Rice deeper tomorrow, please!
Furthermore, we must remain attentive to Atlético’s methods of chance creation in settled possession.
Predominantly, one of Koke or Cardoso splits the two centre-backs, creating a back three. Further ahead of the single midfield pivot are Griezmann and Alvarez, dropping in or pinning high. They are constantly rotating, looking to overload central areas.
Griezmann was primarily stationed in the left half-space, trying to exploit the space vacated by Zubimendi jumping high.
Their full-backs start low but quickly push up when necessary, creating wide overloads. We need to be careful. Jumping out too early is dangerous.
Eberechi Eze pressing onto the left centre-back, without acknowledging those behind weren’t set in position, is a case in point. Atlético subsequently overloaded White, with Griezmann eventually rattling the bar following Matteo Ruggeri’s cross.
I believe we do it. The Emirates will be buzzing, especially on the back of the Fulham display. Observing Simeone’s touchline antics adds extra fuel.
We are objectively better. Their record on the road is poor. Our home form is strong. 90 minutes away from a potential trip to Budapest. Let that sink in. A Champions League Final. Goosebumps!