Atlético Madrid’s UCL Defensive Woes: How Benfica Punished Diego Simeone – Tactical Analysis

Benfica faced Atlético Madrid in the second match of the UEFA Champions League’s league phase — and came out victorious.

Beating Atlético Madrid 4-0, even though the game took place at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, not only means that Benfica won three points in the standings but also highlights the fact that Benfica is becoming very powerful this season and is capable of beating top teams thanks to their balanced defensive and attacking phases and the current excellent form of most of their players.

After winning against Red Star Belgrade in their first away match of the campaign, Benfica now holds the second spot in the standings—alongside Bayer Leverkusen and Brest—if we consider the goal difference.

This means that Benfica have done precisely what was needed of them up to now.

However, they still have to face Barcelona at home, Juventus away, Bayern Munich away, Feyenoord at home, Monaco away, and Bologna at home.

Benfica will have to maintain the same standard of performance in these coming challenges.

This confirms the importance of winning their first two games in order to prepare calmly and confidently for the rest of the games.

On the other hand, Atlético Madrid suffered a disappointing loss that can impact the team mentally in the long run.

Losing 4-0 is too heavy to grasp, and the team should consider their errors and work on fixing them as soon as possible to make up for this heavy loss, both to regain their confidence in their abilities and to regain the fans’ belief.

Moreover, it will be vital for them to win their upcoming Champions League match mainly because they lost three crucial points in the standings, which dropped them to the 23^rd spot (qualifying for the knockout phase play-offs).

After winning against RB Leipzig at home and losing against Benfica away, Atlético Madrid will have to face PSG away, Bayer Leverkusen at home, Lille at home, Red Bull Salzburg away, Slovan Bratislava at home and Sparta Prague away.

Therefore, it will be crucial for Atlético Madrid to fix what is needed to try and win most of the upcoming games and aim to qualify automatically for the knockout phase instead of having to pass through the play-offs.

In this tactical analysis article, we will focus on Benfica’s excellent attacking form and how they broke Atlético Madrid’s compact defensive line.

The analysis will also explore Atlético Madrid’s defensive tactics to highlight what went wrong and how they can improve their overall performance and avoid repeating the same errors.

Atlético Madrid Vs Benfica Lineups

Bruno Lage started the match using the 4-3-3 formation with Anatoliy Trubin as a goalkeeper, Alexander Bah, Tomás Araújo, Nicolás Otamendi and Álvaro Carreras in defence, Florentino Luís as a defensive midfielder, Orkun Kökçü and Fredrik Aursnes as central midfielders, Ángel Di María and Kerem Aktürkoğlu as wingers while Vangelis Pavlidis was the team’s striker.

On the other side, Diego Simeone opted for the 5-4-1 formation as he preferred to secure the defence with two compact defensive lines using Jan Oblak as a goalkeeper, Marcos Llorente, Axel Witsel, José María Giménez, Reinildo Mandava and Samuel Lino in defence, Ángel Correa and Julián Álvarez as wingers, Rodrigo De Paul and Koke as central midfielders while Antoine Griezmann was the team’s false nine.

Benfica’s Convincing Performance

Their excellent start to the match helped Benfica perform at their best and score many goals.

They immediately pressed high on Atlético Madrid’s defence and forced them into mistakes.

Benfica