El Derbi Madrileño is always a huge story in the Spanish capital, and it was not different this past weekend when Atlético Madrid hosted Real Madrid for the first derby in La Liga this season.
For Atlético Madrid, the season didn’t get off to the greatest start.
After six games, long-time coach Diego Simeone and his team were stuck in the midfield of La Liga, only winning two of their games so far.
Los Rojiblancos also lost only one game, but they have drawn three games already.
They are looking for a way forward after a heartbreaking loss in stoppage time in the UEFA Champions League against Liverpool.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, are off to a great start under newly appointed manager and former midfielder Xabi Alonso.
Alonso has his team play inspired football, winning six games straight to start off the season, which meant that Real were the favourites going into the week.
After both teams won their games during the week, it ought to be a spectacle anyhow and the first real obstacle for Real this season.
In the end, Atlético won convincingly 5-2, being the better team for the majority of the game despite trailing 1-2 during the first half.
Simeone knew what his team had to do to hurt the new Real Madrid, and Atlético Madrid showcased why they are arguably the most obnoxious team to play against in world football.
In this tactical analysis, we will take a look at the tactics used by Diego Simeone and Xabi Alonso, how Atlético managed to hold off Real and why the game unfolded the way it did.
Atlético Madrid Trying To Punish Real In The Box
Going into the game, Real were the team in better form.
However, as we all know, Atlético Madrid, under Diego Simeone, love to be the underdog in these games, and they showed that they were ready to accept the role of the challenger even in a home game.
Simeone had a clear tactical plan to hurt Real in this game, knowing how they love to play in their backline and knowing Alonso loves to play with Dean Huijsen and Eder Militao in the centre of that line, he knew that they could hurt Real in the box.
While both Real Madrids centre-backs are good players, they lack physicality in the air.
Looking at what Simeone wants his players to look like, Atlético had the advantage in the air after crosses and utilised that heavily in this game.
The Argentinian decided to start Alexander Sørloth next to Julián Alvarez in attack this game, and with his impressive height of 1.95m and his strength and aerial ability, this proved to be very important for Atlético Madrid.
Atletico Madrid – Real Madrid: A stunning upset in the Derby - tactics
Atlético never made a huge fuss about what they wanted to do in attack against Real Madrid, but it was still really hard to defend for their rival.
Simeone had his men play through the wings, always overloading the sides with one of the midfielders in their 4-4-2 formation.
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