Manchester City will play Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League after edging out Atletico Madrid in an ill-tempered and nervy last eight clash in Madrid which finished goalless on the night.
City won the first leg 1-0 last week thanks to Kevin De Bruyne's second-half strike, so they had a slight edge heading into Wednesday night’s finale at the Wanda Metropolitano. However, such fine margins in the Champions League are hard to attain and easy to loose with this tie firmly in the balance going into the closing stages.
The first half was largely a non-event aside from the one occasion that the visitors managed to find the code to unpick Atleti’s defensive lock, resulting in Ilkay Gundogan’s strike rattling the post and a subsequent goalmouth scramble that was eventually hacked clear.
The second half was almost a different tie with Atleti playing on the front foot and entirely disrupting City’s rhythm, with the visitors creating no notable chances of their own while Diego Simeone’s side – who made five attacking substitutions – had the Premier League champions on the ropes during the closing stages.
Atleti ended the game with ten men after Felipe’s red card as the home side lost their cool, with City advancing through to the semi-finals. Here are five talking points from a tense evening in the Spanish capital.
Home subs left City sweating
For the first three quarters of this tie, Atletico Madrid carried next to no attacking threat – with their xG (expected goals) standing at 0.03 across the first three halves of football!
Yet in the second half of the second leg the tie came alive, firstly by Atletico sensing that the tie was now there for them to add an element of risk to their play and then with a series of attacking substitutions midway through the half. Five attacking players were introduced: Luis Suarez, Matheus Cunha, Yannick Carrasco, Angel Correa and Rodrigo de Paul – who created a series of opportunities.
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De Paul’s rasping shot went inches wide with his first effort before the home side had a penalty appeal turned down and Suarez’s touch let him down when breaking past the City backline and then Atleti went narrowly wide from a corner, as they exploited more space down the flanks and ran through City’s midfield.
Atleti shape stayed the same
The first leg in Manchester was the first time that Atletico Madrid played a flat back five this season – with two wing-backs dropping into almost exclusively defensive roles. In terms of shape, this clash was almost exactly the same for Diego Simeone’s side.
Right-back Sime Vrsaljko was the only player making way with the more attack-minded Thomas Lemar coming in – but that only ensured that midfielder Marcos Llorente dropped back into a defensive role. Indeed, while Antoine Griezmann was theoretically playing alongside Joao Felix in attack – the Frenchman was so deep that they were playing a 5-4-1. Unsurprisingly, this entire system was designed to frustrate and suffocate City’s attacking play – which it was effective in nullifying but ensured few attacking chances were created.
More Atleti aggression
One of the hallmarks of Diego Simeone’s sides over the years has been their aggression and playing on the front-foot, even when retaining their defensive shape and solidity. That was notably absent during the match in Manchester, when they did not engage with the opposition or apply concerted pressure to the ball.
They were notably more aggressive in Madrid – with the tone set early on by Felipe’s late challenge on Phil Foden in the opening exchanges. Felipe was extremely fortunate to escape a booking for the episode, but the foul left Foden requiring a bandage around his head and it infuriated City’s players and bench. He was booked shortly after and then subsequently sent-off in injury time – with the scenes of clashes between the players not entirely unusual for Atleti.
Simeone was intent that this would be an uncomfortable, tense and even painful evening for the visitors, to knock them out of their stride and leave them with battle scars. Throughout the game, Atleti slowly started to see more of the ball and make direct attacks – leaving the tie to be decided in the final section of the two-legged tie.
City injury setbacks
With such a hectic fixture schedule awaiting them in the closing six weeks of the campaign, a priority for Pep Guardiola would have been for his side to steer clear of injuries but they had no such luck.
Midway through the second half of this tie, City suffered a quickfire double injury blow. Firstly, de Bruyne had to be withdrawn after appearing to slightly pull up with a muscular injury after chasing the ball down – subsequently being replaced by Raheem Sterling. Moments later, Kyle Walker landed heavily on his ankle and – despite his attempts to carry on – could not continue. There is no natural replacement for the England international in City’s squad (Nathan Ake was his replacement in the Wanda) and both injuries will leave Guardiola sweating ahead of the upcoming FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool.
Wanda not yet a fortress
Atletico moved into their Wanda Metropolitano stadium in 2017 and despite it creating an intimidating atmosphere – their results at the stadium in Europe are yet to match those of the final years of their old electrifying home of Vicente Calderon.
Going into this clash, they had not won any of their most recent seven home matches in the Champions League. Lokomotiv Moscow came away with a draw last season while Porto, Milan, Liverpool and Manchester United all emerged from the stadium unscathed this time round. Simeone’s side have found more success on the road in Europe this campaign but until their home form improves – they are unlikely to re-emerge as major Champions League contenders again.
