If an attacking side are trying hard to break down an especially stubborn defensive block, you will often see their players looking to take up spaces between the opposition’s lines.
That can mean an offensive midfielder smartly positioning himself behind the other team’s midfield but ahead of the defence, a narrow winger finding a pocket of space infield or a forward dropping deep at the right moment.
But we saw a twist in Atletico Madrid’s 2-0 win at fellow Spanish side Barcelona on Wednesday in the first leg of a Champions League quarter-final.
Diego Simeone’s Atletico were the team sitting deeper in the first half, but clever positioning helped them relieve the pressure on their defence and get the best out of their own shorter spells in possession. Atletico’s front two, Julian Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann, regularly dropped to attack the spaces between the lines and help their team progress the ball up the pitch.
In the example below, Griezmann moves deeper to offer his right-back Nahuel Molina a passing option, with Alvarez nearby.
Pedri is keeping an eye on Griezmann, but fellow central midfielder Eric Garcia’s movement towards the ball allows Atletico to combine through Koke and find the free Alvarez, who is also in a deeper position.
The Argentina forward then switches the play to left-back Matteo Ruggeri, who finds Ademola Lookman down Atletico’s left wing.
In another example, Alvarez positions himself behind Barca midfield duo Pedri and Garcia as Atletico are trying to play through the press.
Initially, right centre-back Pau Cubarsi is looking to pounce on the Atletico forward, should Ruggeri play the ball directly to him. However, once Atletico’s Italian left-back instead finds midfielder Marcos Llorente in space, Alvarez adjusts his position and puts Cubarsi in a difficult situation.
If he follows Alvarez, Llorente can carry the ball into the vacated space or combine with the forward to attack the gap in the defensive line.
So Cubarsi holds his position, which means that with his central defensive partner Gerard Martin marking Griezmann, Alvarez is free between the Barca lines.
These deeper positions Alvarez and Griezmann were finding also posed a threat in a different phase of play.
When Atletico won the ball in their half and wanted to attack on the counter, their front two were in position to link the transition before Barcelona’s players could counter-press and try to retrieve possession.
Defensively, Atletico’s compact 4-4-2 block morphed into a 5-4-1, with Giuliano Simeone dropping into a right wing-back role and Griezmann also defending higher up on the right side.
Out of possession, the latter and Alvarez helped Atletico maintain their overall compactness, while cleverly positioning themselves to be ready to join any counter-attack.
In this example, Atletico are defending their left side, and when Koke wins the ball back, Alvarez is in a position to facilitate the counter.
Once Barcelona lose possession, Garcia’s immediate reaction is to counter-press, but Koke slips a pass through to Lookman, who then finds Alvarez.
The latter’s initial defensive position helps create a two-versus-one situation against Barcelona right-back Jules Kounde once Atletico are attacking on the transition.
Here is another Atletico counter-attack.
As their central defender David Hancko carries the ball forward, Pedri and Garcia are looking to counter-press and retrieve possession.
Griezmann, meanwhile, doesn’t rush forward and instead maintains a deeper position ready to attack the space in midfield.
Hancko finds the Frenchman, who is free because of his positioning away from Martin. Barcelona’s left centre-back can’t commit to Griezmann because Alvarez is in a position to attack the potential gap, with Cubarsi picking up Lookman.
Granted, Atletico didn’t create many chances from Alvarez and Griezmann’s smart positioning, but it allowed them to lessen the pressure on the defence in the first half at Camp Nou.
More importantly, it led to the biggest moment in the game, which resulted in Cubarsi’s red card just before half-time and Alvarez’s spectacular goal direct from the ensuing free kick.
On this counter-attack, Griezmann and Alvarez start in their own penalty area as Pedri and Garcia are focusing on retrieving possession.
Ruggeri’s chipped pass intended for Lookman then falls to Koke, with Alvarez maintaining his deeper position instead of rushing forward. This distances him from Cubarsi and allows him to attack the gap in Barcelona’s midfield, where Koke then plays the ball.
Alvarez then dribbles past Robert Lewandowski and carries the ball forward as Simeone attacks the space behind Barcelona’s defensive line.
Simeone’s run is helped, again, by the deep positioning of Alvarez and Griezmann. While left-back Joao Cancelo and Martin are focusing on Alvarez, Cubarsi is keeping an eye on Griezmann, which slightly delays his run, giving right-winger Simeone a fraction-of-a-second advantage.
Alvarez then finds his fellow Argentinian’s burst behind the home defence, but he ends up getting fouled by Cubarsi.
This counter-attacking situation led to Atletico taking the lead and meant they played the whole second half with an extra man.
Atletico added another goal through substitute Alexander Sorloth, but they didn’t control the match well in that second half, even if Alex Baena’s introduction in the 60th minute improved their performance on the ball.
“We didn’t play our best game with the ball. There are things to improve, things to learn,” Griezmann told Spanish broadcasters Movistar after the match.
However, the task of pulling a goal back proved too much for the 10 players of Barcelona.
Atletico’s counter-attack in the 41st minute was the tipping point in this match. Eventually, Alvarez and Griezmann’s deeper positioning on the counter paid off.
It turns out there’s more than one way to occupy the spaces between the lines.