UEFA Champions League 2020/21: Atalanta vs Liverpool- tactical preview

Matchday three of the UEFA Champions League group stages gets underway on Tuesday evening, with group D seeing first-placed Liverpool take on second-placed Atalanta in Italy. Both sides are coming off the back of 2-1 victories in their respected leagues, and a victory for either side here would put them in good shape to qualify from the group. Atalanta are a side famed in the analysis community for playing an aesthetic, offensive style of football with a focus on rotations and overloads, while Liverpool are likely to tactically line up as they usually do. As a result, this tactical analysis will focus on Atalantas style of play and how Liverpool can look to combat it both in and out of possession, as well as looking at how Atalantas creative build-up could interact with Liverpools pressing.

Atalantas pressing

Out of possession Atalanta operate in a 3-4-1-2 structure, with their central midfielders usually man oriented. Strikers press the centre backs, wing-backs push higher to press the opposition full-backs, while the central midfielders mark their player tightly and look to prevent central progression. This man orientation from the central midfielders means Atalantas midfield can often become a 3-3-2-2 of sorts depending on the midfield staggering, as two central midfielders stay higher here to mark their opponents.

We can see an example of their ideal pressing structure below, with the wing-back applying pressure on the ball while the central options are marked by the strikers and central midfielders. Again the opposition drop into a double pivot, and so Atalanta follow them with two high pressing central midfielders. The deepest midfielder therefore protects the back four, and so can monitor any players dropping to receive. As a result of this three man midfield, it is difficult to overload Atalanta centrally without the use of either a diamond or a forward dropping to receive, both of which reduce the attacking teams options highest up the field.

We can see an example belo