Liverpool 2–1 Atlético Madrid: less of the ball, all of the box

The plan

Two shapes that rarely meet on equal terms. Atlético lined up in a 3-5-2 with Marcos Llorente and Giuliano Simeone as the wing-backs and Julián Álvarez alongside Lee Kang-In up front. Liverpool went 4-2-3-1: Szoboszlai and Mac Allister as the pivot, Wirtz between the lines, Barcola and the teenager Ngumoha wide, Isak as the nine.

The numbers say who had the ball and who had the box. Atlético’s 55 percent possession and Llorente’s seventeenth-minute goal, set up by Álvarez, gave them the first half-hour. Liverpool’s answer was not to chase possession back but to spend the ball they had inside the penalty area: twelve of their fourteen shots came from inside it, against four of Atlético’s nine, and the expected-goals count finished 1.62 to 0.91.

Key moment · 40’

The equaliser arrived from the right side of the back four. Araújo is credited with the assist and Szoboszlai with the finish, a pivot arriving from deep rather than a forward: the record shows him with five key passes and Liverpool’s highest rating of the night, which fits a night when the pivots were the ones stepping into the box behind Isak.

Atlético kept the ball. Liverpool kept the eighteen-yard box, and the box is where the match was scored.— TacticFrame editorial

Key moment · 50’

Five minutes after the restart, the same idea from the other pivot. Isak, pinned between Atlético’s three centre-backs all night, turned provider; Mac Allister finished. Simeone reacted at 59’ with a double change, Grimaldo and Lookman on for Lee and Koke, and from 77’ Atlético had thrown on Le Normand and Hjulmand too. Liverpool’s changes at 60’ and 69’ protected the lead: Frimpong and Muñoz for the wide men, Gravenberch for the goalscorer.

Verdict

• Possession is not the story of this match; the box is. 45 percent of the ball and 12 shots inside the area beat 55 percent and 4.
• Liverpool’s goals both came through the pivots, not the front three. Szoboszlai and Mac Allister scored, Araújo and Isak assisted.
• Atlético’s 3-5-2 held its lead for twenty-three minutes and its shape for ninety. The change of matchday one is that a back three did not stop the runners from midfield.