Atlético Madrid are one of the most active clubs in the summer transfer window right now.
The club’s board is committed to strengthening Diego Simeone‘s squad to ensure it is ready to compete in all competitions.
Rojiblancos have signed central midfielder Johnny Cardoso, attacking midfielder Thiago Almada, left winger Álex Baena.
After successful loan spells last season, Atlético also signed goalkeeper Juan Musso and defender Clément Lenglet.
Finally, the team also signed left wing-back Matteo Ruggeri, who joined them from the Italian club Atalanta BC for €17m.
In the following scout report and player analysis, we will discuss Matteo Ruggeri style of play and technical characteristics, based on his performances with Nerazzurri.
Who Is Matteo Ruggeri?
Matteo Ruggeri is left-footed and primarily plays as a left wing-back or left-back.
He can also fill the left centre-back position.
The player was adapting well to the system of his former coach at Atalanta BC, Gian Piero Gasperini—an Italian coach famous for his back-three formation.
Ruggeri played 109 matches for Atalanta, scoring two goals and providing 10 assists across all competitions.
Matteo Ruggeri Pizza Chart
Matteo Ruggeri’s radar chart compares his performance with that of other left wing-backs from Europe’s top-five leagues in 2024/2025, providing him a percentile rank with ’50’ being ‘average’.
Starting with the possession section, Ruggeri ranked in the 81st percentile among left wing-backs from the top-five leagues for progressive passes per 90, indicating his ability to help his team move upfield through passing.
He was also in the 52nd percentile for dangerous passes per 90 minutes, indicating that his dangerous passes were average compared to those of other players in the same position.
Both his passes per 90 and received passes per 90 are extremely high, indicating his high involvement in possession with Atalanta.
So too is his pass accuracy %, indicating a strong level of reliability in possession, though perhaps also explaining why his ‘dangerous passes per 90’ rating was no higher than around the average.
Regarding the defending section, his highest rating is the aerial duels win percentage; he was higher than 92.1% of players, taking advantage of his height (187cm) and his ability to read the situation and the ball’s trajectory.
Apart from that, Ruggeri performs quite middle-of-the-road across all defensive areas, numbers-wise, when compared with his positional peers.
From the last section, the attacking section, Ruggeri was below average across the board.
So, looking at the data, you’d understand Ruggeri is solid in aerial duels, without really sticking out one way or the other from the norm in other defensive areas relative to other left wing-backs from Europe’s top-five leagues.
He’s reliable in possession with a progressive streak from deep, but is unlikely to carry the ball forward/progress via dribbles.
Matteo Ruggeri is also not the most creative wing-back in the world, although he is a safe and reliable option in possession.
These numbers are a good starting point for our analysis, but it doesn’t paint the whole picture of the player’s game.
Matteo Ruggeri’s off-the-ball movement, for instance, is a key strength that we’ll discuss in the next section, as these numbers don’t quite represent.
So, let’s get an even clearer picture of the player’s game now.
Matteo Ruggeri Attacking Abilities
Let’s look at some of Matteo Ruggeri’s offensive strengths.
Matteo Ruggeri Underlaps & Penetrations
Ruggeri excels at these two tactical aspects, as he is a player with the mobility to make many movements in the final third.
Starting with penetrations, the following image shows an example of how he passes the ball to the depth and then moves to the gap between the opponent’s right-back and centre-back.
When he receives the ball on the left side, he passes it to his teammate.
He moves diagonally towards the free space, exploiting the opponent’s full-back’s proximity to him, and then receives the ball internally.
It’s a 2v2 situation.
The following image shows the same situation, as he passes the ball to Ademola Lookman and moves.
Ruggeri penetrates the space diagonally, without the ball.
After he receives the ball in the free space, he looks for the players in the box to deliver a cross.
Then, he chose to make a low cross towards the far post for the free player there.
Let’s take two more examples of penetration where Matteo Ruggeri himself scored goals as a result of that move.
The first example is from Atalanta’s clash with Olympique de Marseille in the UEFA Europa League semi-final, second leg, of the 2023/2024 season.
Ruggeri passes the ball horizontally to Lookman again, and then he moves diagonally towards the depth to receive it as before.
He also scored another goal from that movement against Sporting CP in the same competition mentioned above, but in the group stage.
Then, he shot the ball and scored a goal.
Regarding the underlapping principle, the player can perform the underlap from either a short or long distance.
The following example is about the long-distance underlap, from a match he played with the Italy U21 National Team.
He passes the ball from a deep position to his teammate at the side, then makes a long underlap towards the final third.
After receiving the ball, he played a well-crossed ball to the near post.
Matteo Ruggeri Crosses
Matteo Ruggeri also excels at delivering crosses from various heights—early, mid-range, and late—with excellent vision regarding the location and timing of the cross.
In the following cases, we will discuss an example of the early and late cross.
In the following image, starting with an early cross, the player receives the ball in the wing space and then drives it forward.
He then plays an early cross while running to the player moving towards the far post.
Let’s move on to late crosses from advanced areas of the pitch.
In the following image, the player first makes an underlap.
Then he delivers an accurate cross into the penalty area.
The cross is played towards the space in front of the goal for the player coming from behind, who shoots it towards the goal.
Matteo Ruggeri Defending Attributes
Let’s look at some of Matteo Ruggeri’s defensive strengths.
Matteo Ruggeri Aerial Duels
One of Ruggeri’s biggest strengths is his aerial ability.
As we mentioned before, he takes advantage of his height and reads the situation well due to his tactical and positioning awareness.
He is also very good at reading the ball’s trajectory, which helps him anticipate and clear the ball.
In the following image, we see a situation that shows the player’s calm retreat.
When he realised that the ball could pass him, he moved back.
Thus, he succeeded in clearing the ball outside.
Another example is the player’s ability to take out aerial balls, direct them towards a teammate, and then move forward to support the counterattack.
Ruggeri plays the ball and then makes a long underlap towards the free space.
Matteo Ruggeri 1v1s
When discussing Matteo Ruggeri’s defensive 1v1 situations, we will examine three key aspects that enable him to steal the ball from attackers.
The first aspect is body position, the second is the timing of the tackles, and the third is the use of long legs in the tackles.
Ruggeri is a solid player in these aspects and has also developed further under Gasperini tactics due to his defensive philosophy, particularly the man-marking system.
That system forces each defender to engage in numerous one-on-one battles against attackers within the match, so they must excel at marking, interceptions, and tackles.
The next examples will illustrate how Ruggeri defends, beginning with a one-on-one scenario in a large space.
In the following image, we can see how Ruggeri keeps an appropriate space between himself and the ball carrier by getting back to delay the press.
Also, he returns with the correct body shape and orientation, which helps him avoid a speed race that might not be in his favour.
After returning to his first third, he could prevent the cross by using his long legs to block the ball.
The following image shows him acting when a player delays his decision or keeps the ball without fully protecting it.
Ruggeri doesn’t rush to tackle the ball, but waits for the opportune moment to do so.
Then, when the ball carrier waits a long time, he steals the ball.
Another example is body position, timing of the tackle, and using long legs to execute the tackle.
Again, he waits for the ball carrier to see what he will do.
He tries to take the ball when the ball carrier delays his decision.
As much as Matteo Ruggeri has long legs and constantly uses them to tackle or harass the ball carrier, they can sometimes be a weakness, as he is vulnerable to being passed over by passing the ball between his legs.
The following image shows the ball carrier successfully passing the ball between his legs, capitalising on the considerable distance between his legs.
Another image shows the ball carrier trying to pass it between his legs.
The player also loses his balance and falls, but he ultimately succeeds in stealing the ball.
Conclusion
Matteo Ruggeri can play in three positions with Simeone: as a left wing-back in the coach’s back-three system, or as a left centre-back in the same system.
He can also play as a left-back in a back-four system if Simeone uses it.
I believe that to get the most out of Ruggeri, he could be used as a left-wing back, especially if he is joined up in the final third by a winger who can keep and protect the ball and wait for him to make an overlap, underlap, or the penetrations he is capable of doing.
Additionally, his excellence in delivering crosses will suit attacking players like Alexander Sørloth and Julián Alvarez, as well as opposite wingers like Giuliano Simeone, and will be a good solution for reaching the opponent’s goal.
