The significance of Thomas Tuchel’s first Champions League win with Chelsea
By A. Aden
Chelsea owned 64% ball possession, putting together 677 passes compared to Atletico’s inferior 397 passes and 36% ball possession.
Atleti faced the problem of lacking numbers going forward when winning the ball back as the two wingbacks were usually deep inside their own half and the counter commonly began with just 3 to 4 players versus a similar defensive setup in Chelsea, with one being an aging Luis Suarez.
Suarez’s mission remained unchanged going into this game as the reliable No.9, tasked with finding key spaces in the small pockets and running into the channels behind the pairing of Antonio Rudiger & Marcos Alonso.
A player who looked revived under Simeone this season and an attacking partner to Suarez, Felix, struggled under what looked like a tall task from the manager to fill a need at playing as a left wingback halfway into the game as opposed to his familiar role of a deep-lying forward just behind the striker; picking up runs just into the opponent’s half.
One downside to the newly invented formation rolled out by Atletico Madrid this season entails that once they find themselves pressing higher up the pitch, the tendency to find one of the opponent’s wingbacks/wingers in acres of space is worryingly high.
Due to this, Tuchel’s adaptability allowed for Chelsea to exploit this through their growing ability to comfortably play from the back. Marcos Alonso was the player regularly found in space along the left flank and the penetration he offered in the form of early crosses into danger areas and passes back across the outside of the penalty area.
Surprise 6-3-1 without the ball from Simeone. Mount seems like the key player here. Space for him over to the right, and if he can attract Lemar inside then Hudson-Odoi gets free
— Michael Cox (@Zonal_Marking) February 23, 2021
Alonso, a player who found himself on the fringe under the departed Frank Lampard, has cherished a revival in minutes as he leap-frogged £50million signing Ben Chilwell in the pecking order. Many consider it a bold statement carried out by the big personality in Thomas Tuchel.
A solution to Diego Simeone’s attacking issues could have come in the form of Moussa Dembele, a loan from Lyon last month.
Dembele came to Madrid as a talented forward whose intrigue comes in the form of a 6’0 powerhouse capable of supplying the needed hold-up play for midfielders; wingbacks alike to progress the attack further as well as, a player that can stretch the play further than his position of a No.9.