Diego Simeone’s ‘bus park’ tactics against Manchester City at the Champions League 2021-22 come under question as Atletico Madrid fails to register a single shot on target for the first time under him
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Walking into the quarter-finals Diego Simeone’s men had one objective of keeping the Goalscorers at bay and counterattacking when they lose possession. So did it all work out for the Los Rojiblancos? absolutely not!
Diego Simeone’s ‘bus park’ tactics
In football, the term ‘Bus Parking‘ is used when teams deploy a lot of players behind the ball when out of possession. The system also tends to favor low risk in attack, with very few players committed forward to make sure that the opposition cannot break quick enough when they win the ball back.
Diego Simeone is no stranger to this defensive style of play having employed it time and again against challenging opponents. The Argentine went forward with it against Manchester City, employing 5 defenders throughout the game and the other 5 players, including the two strikers around the ball when it was out of possession.
In gross terms, this tactic may have worked as we saw that Manchester City was only able to bag 2 shots on target but it’s not that simple as they did manage to take 15 shots, most of which were kept out due to individual defensive exploits.
The La Liga defending champions did suffer due to terrible man marking which eventually lead to some great opportunities for the Citizens. Jan Oblak did a great job at goalkeeping, making a crucial save against a KDB freekick in the second half.
The only goal came at the 70′ when Kevin De Bruyne scored a corner shot past Oblak, courtesy of a great pass from Phil Foden And his quick dribbling across the Atletico defense.
Where did Atletico Madrid fall short?
Atletico’s attack was Mediocre and they failed to take their chances during counter-attack situations. What was witnessed as the only close goal-scoring opportunity was Marcos Llorente’s soft effort which turned out to be a piece of cake for Ederson.
Moving on with that it was the first time under Simeone that Atletico have fail to register even a single shot in the game further describing their attacking plight. Also, there was no surprise factor for Machester City as they came well prepared for Atletico’s defensive gameplay and counter-attacks shunning them from any further goal-scoring opportunities.
Further, they lacked possession having the 29% of the time which made opportunities to score goals go scarce.
Manchester City vs Atletico Madrid, Leg 1: the conclusion
Manchester City currently leads the tie 1-0 and therefore Atletico Madrid will need to take the game into their hand if they want to progress to the semifinal by getting their attacking opportunities right, while successfully avoiding any counter-pressing by the Sky blues. They will play the second leg at their home against the Citizens next week.
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Thomas Savio Joseph
(51 Articles Published)