From time to time there will be a fixture that shows us a genuine clash of styles, this past week we saw one such fixture in Group A of the Champions League as Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid travelled to Germany to face Borussia Dortmund. The Spanish side are well known under their Argentine coach Simeone for playing a compact style of football with the first priority being the defensive structure, Borussia Dortmund, on the other hand, are perhaps playing the best football in Europe at the moment with their attacking style of football proving too much for their opponents to take.
The last two seasons have not been altogether straightforward for Dortmund however, with the club struggling to properly replace the perhaps irreplaceable Jurgen Klopp as coach. Thomas Tuchel had the tactical acumen and technical ability but his ability to man-manage the players and deal with the club at board level were more questionable. Next came two coaches in one season with the Dutch coach Peter Bosz joining from Ajax and struggling to come to terms with the squad at his disposal. After six months Bosz was out and replaced by the Austrian Peter Stoger. Now, having gone through three coaches the club have returned to the man that was the allegedly first choice to replace Tuchel in the Swiss tactician Lucien Favre. It is still early days under the reign of Favre but the initial impression and the underlying numbers are extremely positive to this point.
To this point, Atleticos season has been somewhat underwhelming, there were initial signs of a more attacking approach underlined by the summer acquisition of the French wide player Thomas Lemar but as the season has progressed we have seen the Spanish side revert to their defensive structure with the exciting French winger having the work rate and humility to fit in with Simeones system perfectly.
In this match there was a sense that something would have to give, would it be Atleticos defensive strength or Dortmunds attacking brilliance?
Team News
The home side started in a 4-2-3-1 structure that was extremely fluid in the attacking third. Marco Reus and Mario Gotze started the match together with each player taking a turn in leading the line whilst the other dropped into the 10 role. On the left side the exciting Danish attacker Jacob Bruun Larsen started ahead of the equally exciting English winger Jadon Sancho.
There were no surprises in the starting eleven from Simeone as Atletico lined up in their customary 4-4-2 structure with their strongest team.
![Lazio Vs Napoli [0–2] – Serie A 2025/2026: Maurizio Sarri Zonal Marking Weaknesses And Unsuccessful Attacking Choices – Tactical Analysis](https://totalfootballanalysis.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Lazio-Vs-Napoli-tactical-analysis--350x250.png "Lazio Vs Napoli [0–2] – Serie A 2025/2026: How Antonio Conte Tactics Exploited Structural Flaws – Tactical Analysis 4")
