Line-Ups
RB Leipzig (RBL): in-possession 3151 & out-of-possession 4231
Atletico Madrid (AM): in-possession 433 & out-of-possession 442
More details on each team's shape, in and out of possession, and general observations below.
RB Leipzig Observations
In-Possession:
In-possession RBL switched from their 4231 out-of-possession shape into a 3151 shape
Below is a visual example of how RBL would switch between the two shapes with details on these movements underneath the image
At the back, Klostermann tucked in from his right back position into a right centre back alongside Upamecano and Halstenberg to make a back three
In midfield, Kampl stays central as the midfield pivot and Laimer moves out to a wide right position with Angelino pushing up high to take up a wide left position
Centrally, Sabitzer, Olmo and Nkunku aimed to play between-the-lines with Sabitzer being the one who tended to drop deeper to try and help Kampl in build-up play
Poulsen would be the highest point of the attack and occupy the AM central defenders
As AM had a very compact 442 shape out-of-possession, Sabitzer dropping deeper (and his passing ability) helped RBL a) play through the lines to find Olmo, Poulsen and Nkunku and b) play diagonal switches to the wide players (Laimer and Angelino) who would often be in space
In addition to Sabitzer having a dual role of playing between-the-lines and dropping deeper to help dictate RBL's attacking play, other RBL attacking variations included 1) Laimer and Klostermann on the right hand side and 2) Angelino and Nkunku on the left hand side
On the right hand side, as Laimer would move from his out-of-possession double central midfield pivot to a wide right position - at times he would hold his double central midfield pivot position and Klostermann would push up to take the wide right position
In addition to this, when facing AM in a low block, Klostermann would also at times push up from his more frequent right centre back position to provide an underlap run in the final third for Laimer who would be widest right
On the left hand side, in build up play, at times Angelino and Nkunku would simply swap positions (so Nkunku widest left and Angelino in the left half space)
The reasons for this switch was so that Nkunku would be in more space to find and receive the ball
When Nkunku did receive the ball, he would often carry the ball infield with Angelino then making an inside-to-outside run
Angelino made this movement to offer Nkunku different options - Nkunku could either pass outside to Angelino's overlap run or carry on dribbling centrally either into the box or to find a central / lateral pass
This interchange of play between Angelino and Nkunku caused an issue for Trippier as he would need to decide whether to go and press Nkunku or stay with Angelino's run
All of RBL's attacking tactics intended to find and create space in and around AM's compact 442 out-of-possession shape - disrupt it as much as possible
RBL would primarily attempt to play vertical passes through-the-lines of AM's first (strikers) and second (midfielders) defensive lines in order to cause AM's last defensive line (back 4) even narrower which created space for RBL's wide players (Laimer & Angelino) to receive the ball in space wide in the final third and then cross / cutback into the box of which RBL got numbers into (in the box would be Poulsen, Nkunku, Olmo and the opposite wide player attacking the far post)
See visual example below of this passing through-the-lines tactic from RBL to create space for Laimer wide in the final third
If RBL could not play through-the-lines then they would attempt to overload one side of the pitch - in order to shift AM's out-of-possession shape more to one side of the pitch - and once AM had shifted across as a unit, RBL would then make a quick switch of the play to the other side (weak side) of the pitch where they had a wide player hugging the opposite touchline
This wide player would then attack quickly down the flank or play a combination with another player e.g. a one-two
See visual example below of this how RBL would overload one side of the pitch to create a switch-of-play opportunity to the weak side (e.g. side that AM had vacated to block the other side) - Sabitzer or Kampl would often be the players to play these switch passes
A final observation on RBL's attacking tactics was their use of Upamecano's ability to carry the ball forward
As AM's first line of defence (Costa & Llorente) main job was to block passes through the middle of the pitch and also into Kampl - Kampl would at times move out of his central pivot position to be slightly wider (outside of either Costa or Llorente)
This movement out wide sometimes resulted in Costa and Llorente splitting slider wider and therefore creating a space in between them for Upamecano to carry the ball forward to bypass them
This progression carry from Upamecano would cause AM's second defensive line (midfield four) an issue as one of them would have to jump out of their position to engage Upamecano
This consequently helped create pockets of space for Olmo, Nkunku and Sabitzer between-the-lines to get into to receive the ball from Upamecano
When this pass was successful an RBL attacking player would then be facing AM's back four - so either able to dribble directly at them or make a pass out wide where RBL would have an overlap opportunity
Out-of-Possession:
Without the ball, RBL reverted to their 4231 shape (see visual example of their shape & player positions in the visual in the Atletico Madrid Observations section)
In a low block, this shape would become more a 4411 shape with Sabitzer and Nkunku dropping alongside the two central midfielders with Olmo in-behind Poulsen
RBL out-of-possession shape would be very compact - both horizontally & vertically
At times RBL would look to press AM backline - certain triggers appeared to include a backwards pass or when AM passed the ball out wide - but as AM would be happy to go direct to their forwards, RBL would most often get into a mid-block
In their mid-block shape, RBL would aim to block the centre of the pitch and force AM to pass out wide to their fullbacks (Trippier & Lodi) who whilst had pushed up higher, are less of a threat on the ball than AM's midfielders or attackers
Another reason for allowing AM to pass out to wider positions is that, as mentioned above, this appeared to be a pressing trigger
RBL would use the touchline as another 'defender' and squeeze out towards the wide player to try and force a turnover - as that player would have limited options / space to go so more likely to play a rash / riskier pass
Another element of RBL without the ball was counter-pressing - as RBL had lots of players centrally, whenever they did lose the ball they had plenty of players in close proximity to go and try to regain possession
Atletico Madrid Observations
In-Possession:
In-possession AM switched from their 442 out-of-possession shape into a 433 shape but as their fullbacks pushed higher, it more resembled 253
In the final 3rd, this shape would become more of a 235 shape
Below is a visual example of how AM would switch between the two shapes with details on these movements underneath the image
In defence, both Trippier and Lodi would push wider and slightly higher to be AM's widest players
When AM had possession in the middle third, both Trippier & Lodi would sit slightly deeper and not push completely in-line with RBL's last line of defence - the reasons for this looked to be to try and draw out RBL players from their defensive shape
An example of this would be, on the right side when Trippier had the ball he may be able to draw out Nkunku which might create space for Koke centrally or Angelino which then created space for Llorente to run into the channel for a pass
In the final third, whilst Tripper and Lodi would naturally push higher they tended not to get to the byline - instead they would attempt deeper out-swinging crosses
In midfield, AM tended to have Koke as their right central midfielder, Herrera as their pivot and Saul as their left central midfielder - however, these three also interchanged regularly in-possession
An example of this would be Koke or Saul dropping into the pivot position and then the other two midfielders either pulling out wider or pushing up into a more advanced position
Koke at times could also drop deeper into the right back position to find space against the RBL mid-block - this movement allowed Trippier to push up higher and Llorente to either stay between-the-lines in the right pocket or drop deeper into the space which Koke vacated
In attack, Costa would lead the line and Llorente and Carrasco would aim to play in the half-spaces + between-the-lines
Both Llorente & Carrasco would also at times pull wider on the outside of the RBL fullbacks to vary their attacking play - plus, both are very mobile players so good at progressing the ball forward / past players
At around the 60 minute mark, after Joao Felix came on for Herrera, AM switched their in-possession shape to more of a 4231 shape
Koke and Saul became the double midfield pivot and Felix played in-behind Costa
This shape (in addition to the game state of being 1-0 down) led to AM having more controlled spells of possession and causing more problems for RBL
Out-of-Possession:
Without the ball AM would get into a very compact 442 shape - with limited space between each line
AM would rarely press RBL and instead get into a mid-block / low block
AM would shift across the pitch, left to right, as a unit to avoid allowing RBL to play through the centre of the pitch
Their very compact 442 shape could often leave them vulnerable to quick switches of play as RBL would leave a player very wide on the weak-side (which as detailed above, RBL tried to create and exploit)
Both Costa and Llorente would be AM's first line of defence and both would drop together into AM's low block as opposed to just Llorente dropping to make a 4411 shape
When AM did manage to turnover the ball in their low block shape then Llorente & Carrasco in particular would look to use their speed and mobility to counter RBL and attack the space in-behind them
Result
Half-Time = 0-0
Full-Time = 2-1
Thank you for reading.
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