Olympique De Marseille Vs Atalanta [0–1] – Champions League 2025/2026: Ivan Jurić High Press & Man-Marking Tactics – Tactical Analysis

Olympique de Marseille hosted Atalanta BC in Gameweek 4 of the UEFA Champions League at the Stade Vélodrome, and the game resulted in a crucial win for the Italian side.

Thanks to their single goal of the match, Atalanta secured their second win in this phase, following victories over Club Brugge, a draw with Slavia Praha, and a loss to PSG.

The team’s results suggest that their qualification hopes are still alive, given that they actually have seven points and are within the knockout play-offs zone, especially if they continue to get positive results in the upcoming games.

For Marseille, however, things are becoming a bit more complicated, as they have only won one game against Ajax, while losing the three other games against Real Madrid, Sporting CP, and now Atalanta.

This puts Marseille in 25th spot with three points.

It will be crucial for the French side to earn points in their upcoming games in order to climb the standings and compete for a play-off spot, if they plan to continue their European journey this season.

That said, their mission will not be easy at all, as they will face tough teams like Newcastle United and Liverpool, in addition to two tricky games against Club Brugge and Royale Union Saint-Gilloise.

In this tactical analysis, our focus will mainly be centered on Ivan Jurić’s effective high-pressing system and how they dealt with the attacking situations created following their recoveries.

Olympique Marseille Vs Atalanta Formations & Lineups

Roberto De Zerbi preferred to start with a 5-4-1 formation for Olympique Marseille, with Gerónimo Rulli as the goalkeeper, Michael Amir Murillo and Ulisses Garcia as full-backs, and Nayef Aguerd, Benjamin Pavard, and CJ Egan-Riley as centre-backs.

The midfield was made up of Matt O’Riley and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg as central midfielders, with Mason Greenwood and Igor Paixão on the wings, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as the team’s main striker.

For Atalanta, Ivan Jurić opted for the 3-4-3 formation, with Marco Carnesecchi as the goalkeeper, and all three centre-backs: Odilon Kossounou, Berat Djimsiti, and Honest Ahanor.

The midfield consisted of Marten de Roon and Éderson as central midfielders, with Davide Zappacosta and Raoul Bellanova as wing-backs.

Attacking-wise, Jurić preferred to start the match with Nikola Krstović as the main striker, with both Charles De Ketelaere and Ademola Lookman playing on the wings.

Atalanta High Pressing & High Defensive Block Efficiency

Atalanta started the match with an excellent approach, despite playing an away game against a team and a head coach known for their efficient, high-pressure strategies.

Jurić studied Olympique Marseille’s strengths well and countered De Zerbi’s plans with a very disciplined and aggressive high pressing that created numerous issues for Marseille, obliging them to play with wide lines.

Atalanta’s high pressing was led by Krstović, who applied heavy pressure on the first holder of the ball.

And with many players joining consistently and in a disciplined way in the pressing plans, Atalanta succeeded in disturbing Olympique Marseille’s build-up from the back and were capable of making seven high recoveries inside Marseille’s own half.

This confirms that Atalanta’s high-pressing attempts were fruitful, as they helped the team create goal-scoring chances and win possession in dangerous areas.

Atalanta High Pressing & Defensive Style

The following picture highlights one of the numerous instances where Atalanta applied their high pressing on Marseille, led by Krstović, with Lookman and De Ketelaere following on the wings, and both central midfielders advancing to press high on the potential recipients of passes.

Instructing both Éderson and de Roon to press high on their midfield counterparts continuously made Atalanta’s high pressing more effective, as it reduced Olympique Marseille’s passing options, limiting their midfielders from touching the ball frequently and obliging the defenders to fall into the trap of committing passing mistakes.

Furthermore, the high defensive line that accompanied this high pressing plan made things even more complicated for Marseille, as both Ahanor, Djimsiti, and Kossounou were aggressive enough to quickly disrupt the ball receiver in case Olympique Marseille resorted to through passes or long passes to one of the attacking players.

This advanced defensive system helped Atalanta limit Olympique Marseille’s attacking threats, as they blocked most of their playmaking attempts and ensured that they reduced the passing options of the ball holder on each occasion.

Atalanta Tight Man-Marking

Furthermore, the key to making this defensive style effective against De Zerbi’s Marseille was leaving minimal space between each Marseille player and their marker.

This allowed Atalanta to win the total defensive duels and be very aggressive on the ball holder.

The following picture shows how Atalanta defenders closed Aubameyang down as soon as he received a through pass.

The same happened with Greenwood and Paixão, limiting both players’ room for penetration and dribbling on the wings.

Such compact defending and tight one-vs-one marking contributed to limiting both Paixão and Greenwood’s performances and danger, pushing the first to be little involved in the team’s attacking actions and obliging Greenwood to play with his back to the goal most of the time.

It was only in the last minutes of the game that Greenwood got some space and was capable of making a few dangerous internal penetrations.

Atalanta Exploitation Of Recoveries

Atalanta succeeded in creating a lot of danger thanks to their high pressing efforts and could have scored more than one goal thanks to their successful tactics in this match.

However, their killer instinct inside the final third, as well as their decision-making in terms of final passing, still needs adjustments to make the team exploit their defensive efforts with more efficiency going forward.

Many of Atalanta’s actions were marred by individual errors that did not allow the attacks to be as dangerous as they needed to be, despite having better options.

For instance, the following picture highlights one of the many incorrect decisions regarding final passes.

Atalanta won the ball back and launched a counterattack, relying on Lookman to penetrate from the left wing and shoot on goal if possible, or provide a key pass to one of the players inside the box.

Lookman preferred to opt for the individual solution by taking a shot, despite knowing that the shooting trajectory was blocked.

In this case, it would have been much more helpful to either dribble past his direct marker and then shoot, or provide a cross to one of the two players waiting near the far post without tight marking.

Having the reflex and team-play mentality to provide key passes during such crucial situations is essential for Atalanta to capitalize on their remarkably high pressing and recovery efforts.

Atalanta Key Passing Decisions

It must be said that Charles De Ketelaere was once again a key player within Atalanta’s system in this match, and he proved his utility thanks to the excellent performance he put on.

Specifically, De Ketelaere was at the heart of each attacking action the team created.

De Ketelaere was the first player to move without the ball inside the opponent’s half and provide a passing solution.

As soon as he receives short or long passes in that area, he acts like a stationary striker (mostly on the right side), protecting the ball and waiting for his teammates to join the attack before providing a forward or a horizontal pass and advancing without the ball to provide a passing option.

Atalanta relied heavily on De Ketelaere in most of their playmaking actions, and the latter proved useful in this regard, ensuring they did not lose the ball easily and distributing it to the best possible attacking option.

Interpreting this striker role while playing as a winger freed Krstović a bit further and allowed him to move more effectively without the ball when De Ketelaere received passes, which in turn helped Atalanta find spaces and passing options each time they relied on De Ketelaere for this build-up role.

That said, De Ketelaere could have crowned his performance with an assist or two, given that his decision-making could have been more intelligent on some occasions.

During the following action, De Ketelaere made the difficult task of cutting inside to create the possibility for himself to shoot or provide a pass.

However, instead of providing a key pass to one of his teammates who were waiting for an assist, given their excellent shooting position, De Ketelaere opted for the individual option.

He preferred to shoot despite being unbalanced and despite knowing that his shot would not be problematic for Olympique Marseille’s goal, which prevented Atalanta from exploiting this scoring opportunity more clinically.

Atalanta Goal Action

Despite these missed opportunities and Atalanta’s attacking players’ decision-making problem inside the final third, the team’s overall performance was still convincing enough.

What is needed is to be more clinical in terms of finishing and final passing, as well as a stronger exploitation of the well-interpreted and executed high-pressing and man-marking defensive style.

The goal action highlights how Atalanta’s wingers and strikers should approach their penetrations from the wing, opting for a shooting solution only when they are sure the trajectory is guaranteed. The chances of their shots being blocked are minimal.

Lazar Samardžić ensured the ball was curved perfectly, after ensuring it was possible to shoot on goal, and executed his shot with conviction and mastery.

Conclusion

Atalanta studied Olympique Marseille’s strengths well and were good enough to counter them thanks to an efficient high-pressing plan, which the players interpreted in the best way.

They maintained a high defensive block when needed and retreated as a unit whenever necessary.

Additionally, the man-marking defensive style helped Atalanta limit their opponent’s threats, allowing the Italian team to win the ball back on numerous occasions and create numerous counterattacking possibilities.

Building on this performance is necessary for Atalanta to continue gaining precious points in the UEFA Champions League.