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On the sixth and final matchday of the UEFA Champions League group stage, Red Bull Salzburg reached the grand final in a duel against Atlético de Madrid for a possible place in the round of 16. The Bulls entered the game with confidence, since so far they have only made good appearances in the premier class and already demanded everything from the Spanish leaders in the first leg. Now it was time for the Salzburgs to bring everything out of themselves again to make the feeling possible in some way.
Ultra aggressive bulls attack Atlético
It’s no secret that Salzburg have beaten significantly below their value in this Champions League season so far. Despite good performances, especially against the two group favorites Bayern and Atlético, they eventually left the matches empty-handed and even had to tremble for third place in the group. However, thanks to a 3: 1 away win against Lok Moscow last week, they have returned to pole position and have at least largely secured this spot. Therefore, the focus was on winning the game against Atlético and still delivering the big shot. How did you want to do that? First, coach Jesse Marsch had to readjust a bit, but with the camera suspended, a central midfield pillar failed. The response to this was to put an additional offensive force into play with recovered forward Daka, which should also underscore the Bulls’ intent and conviction. For this, a 4-3-1-2 formation was systematically selected, in which the target player Berisha was placed slightly dangling behind the two ends and thus entered the game nominally with three attackers.
The ambitions and the project were already almost clear, that is, to go completely on the offensive and do everything possible. From the first minute, the bulls quickly put an intensity and aggressiveness on the grass that is rarely seen even in this form from the hosts. Atlético were literally chased all over the pitch and put under constant pressure in a full sprint, with which they wanted to take over the turnovers and the entire match. This had an immediate effect on Atlético, who suffered a lot of turnovers and barely gave up the game of possession, despite some great players in their own ranks.
However, if multiple opponents are constantly jumping at full speed and the pressure is coming from literally all sides, this clearly packs a punch. Salzburg also took a big risk, constantly stabbing the defensive striker and playing with a high defensive line, which meant there was a risk that a ball had slipped. However, the Bulls’ defenders used to be very vigilant and win their duels, or the counter hit before that.
And on the offensive? There was also a lot of pull and forward speed and especially when playing center, you tried to break through the excellent defense of the Spanish with “steep, gossipy, steep” passing patterns. That worked wonderfully at first and Berisha came to a good conclusion after just a few minutes, which she put in place. That already indicated the dangerousness of the Salzburgs, who also had a system. The hosts came up with some tricks to break Madrid’s 4-4-2 block. From the structure of the game, the system became a 3-4-1-2 for the Bulls, when midfielder Mwepu leaned to the right side and a three-way chain was created for a short time.
What was the goal of this chain of three? Mainly, this approach was aimed at putting his own wingers in certain positions. Due to the three-way chain, these would move extremely far and give wings, so to speak, which in turn meant that the central areas could be “overloaded” if given the necessary width. All under the premise of having a balanced structure and good passport connections.
Intentionally or not, he pulled winger Carrasco with him, which meant Atlético often defended at 5-3-2 rather than 4-4-2. That spoiled the release of the guests and midfielder Saul moved to Mwepu, among others, so that Salzburg found great rooms behind him and got to play. This increased the dominance and presence of the bulls in the midfield, since it was possible to establish a clear majority in the first two thirds of the field and the Spaniards had to orient themselves backwards.
However, this meant that Salzburg had to find solutions against a massive defense network. Most of the time this was successful after winning the ball and a straightforward game, but the Austrian champions also found combinative solutions against the guests’ defensive blocking. Whether it was through diagonal passes to the center, triangulation and continuation of the game via the free man in the space away from the ball, there were some patterns to see how progress was made to the last third. Consequently, the bulls dominated and had the game under control. Therefore, even Atlético had to partially use a back-six (!), As the two attacking wingers fell back and hit the wings to somehow defend the attacks.
Bulls seeking balance, Atlético shows quality
There were also some scoring chances, but they couldn’t take advantage of them from sometimes promising positions. Here, the toughness of an experienced top team was simply lacking, because twice you hit the ground with your foot and therefore did not hit the ball correctly in the end. That has often been the difference this season and therefore he has far fewer points on his account than he should have in terms of performance. After a good 25 minutes and after the strong opening phase with numerous occasions that could not be turned into an advantage, the Bulls slowed down in intensity and changed the pace.
That’s the difference from previous Bulls teams, which gave full acceleration for over 90 minutes and always played on the edge. When you march you try to achieve more balance downenter, let the rival in and, depending on the situation, bet on pressure from the midfield. That was also the case here, that’s why Atlético did better ins The game found and recorded longer periods of possession. That also brought relief and the Spaniards showed their playful qualities in this phase, at least until the last third. Captain Koke pulled the strings in midfield and usually moved the wing very intelligently, which could ensure possession of the ball.
But it hardly got really dangerous, as the hosts acted very carefully in defense of the penalty area and were generally able to resolve the situation in time.north. However, shortly before the break they committed a stupid foul near the penalty area, the it was momentous. Atlético put a strong ball into the center and took advantage of the first really good opportunity of the game. Of course, that was very useful for the Spanish, because with the leadership behind you, you could fully concentrate on your own central area and on the playing field, that is, to keep the police away from your own goal.
So the whole second half turned into a game. as on an inclined plane. Atlético parked him in his own penalty area proverbial Bus, the two forwards were partly 25 (!) Meters as defenders since He took out his own goal and tried to support his teammates in defense. You literally defended your own case with the man and the mouse. Therefore, the second half was more of a handball than a football match. Salzburg advanced with all the players in the opposite field, played a lot from left to right around the block and waited patiently for the gaps. The ratio of shots to goals was 18: 3 after just under 60 minutes, a clear advantage for the Austrian champions. However, there were rarely gaps and when they did, Atlético usually managed to win the salute at the last minute.rsuccessfully disturbing ger. Only with a remarkable one-two between Berisha and Szoboszlai, the policemen were able to circumvent the defense of the guests, but the Hungarian’s nerves failed and he placed the game equipment next to the house in front of the area.
Minute by minute, he had the feeling that Salzburg could match and the belief visibly faded. Atlético had increasing counterattack opportunities in the final phase due to the extremely offensive orientation of the hosts and took advantage of one of these opportunities shortly before the end for the final decision when Carrasco made it 2-0. That was the end of this game.
conclusion
For the bulls it is milk like a mouse, because once again in this Champions League season they were left empty-handed despite a good performance. Atlético again demanded everything, they were the best team throughout the season and caused great problems for the Spanish leaders. Above all, the pressure and high intensity hit the Madrilenians and for a long time they could not free themselves from their grip, which is an honor for the Salzburg team.
Having some clear scoring opportunities against one of the best defensive lines in Europe is not a given and shows that a lot of good has been done. In the end, however, a bit of callousness is lacking in decisive situations and luck was not always on Salzburg’s side. So now it is in the Europa League for bulls, where you could go very far with this type of performance.
Dalibor Babic, abseits.at
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