UEFA Champions League 2021/22: Where Rangnick must get his United selection right against Atletico Madrid – tactical preview

The 2021-22 Champions League round of 16, especially the 2nd legs, has seen some interesting battles. The game between Manchester United and Atletico Madrid at Old Trafford could follow them in that list.

The first leg already saw Manchester United getting away by snatching a late equalizer to get themselves back into the tie. Atletico Madrid and Simeone would be disappointed about the way in which they conceded after dominating their opponents for the majority of the game.

Although being termed as favourites before the tie, Manchester United displayed very poor performance under their interim manager in the first leg and also are undergoing a very tough run of form that has seen them lose to Manchester City.

This preview in the form of tactical analysis examines both teams’ tactics and how Rangnick and his men need to up their game to qualify for the next round. Let’s begin the analysis. 

Rangnick’s team selection

Ever since he arrived at Manchester United, Ralf Rangnick’s team selection and his approach to the game have also been introspected deeply within the football community. After taking charge he has been focussing on changing the latter, especially without possession. But his team selection has always been under question and scrutinized where the analysts and fans feel there is a sense of inconsistency in his choices. 

In his first few games after taking charge, he went with a full-back pairing of Diogo Dalot and Alex Telles to replace the out of form duo of Wan-Bissaka and Luke Shaw respectively. Both Dalot and Telles looked very good, especially the former, in his first few games that saw them slowly nail the starting spots. Shaw eventually won his spot back from Telles but Dalot seemed to be United’s best option at RB with his progressive passing and ability to offer more in attack proving to be valuable for United. But over the past three weeks, Dalot hasn’t started a single game and even missed out on the first leg against Atletico and the Manchester derby. 

Especially against Atletico Madrid, it was baffling to see Rangnick go with Victor Lindelof in the RB position in a game where United was given more time on the ball by their opponent. Lindelof looked out of sorts in that role and Rangnick also had to change the formation to accommodate him midway through that game that then saw Sancho play as a wing-back.

In the image above, we can see Lindelof playing as an RB and having the ball with him. But his body is not in the natural angles suited to an RB when he looks to pass the ball and he is in a more regressive angle. This means that he cannot play a pass to Rashford who could have then played a pass to Pogba with so much space around him. Dalot in this instance would have definitely found the angle to play a pass to Rashford or would even attempt a pass all the way to Ronaldo who could have played a wall pass back to Pogba.