Sport Lisboa e Benfica Stadium, 2024-10-02 21:00
There are no words to describe Atlético’s miscalculation against Benfica.
Being forced to rotate the eleven is Atlético’s eternal Achilles heel. If the best eleven does not start, there is no oil in the machinery for Simeone’s men and that was the fact today as well. Outclassed by Benfica in a match you just shouldn’t lose.
Benfica lined up with a dynamic formation that with the ball was a 3-5-2 but without the 4-3-3. Atlético lined up in their 3-4-3 formation which they have used in most matches this season.
The first 20 minutes of the match gave Atlético to Benfica. First it starts with losing the mark completely on a corner which gave Pavlidis a free header on the far side but Oblak managed to save. Then just minutes later, they gave the ball away on their own throw-in, which led to Aktürkoglu being free-kicked and giving the home team the lead.
It was as expected Atlético who had a little more of the ball than the home team who instead played their transition football, but in the first half it turned out that that type of football worked best. Atlético create almost nothing in the first half, but they finish first with 0.18 in xG while Benfica has 1.11 in xG.
Marcos Llorente went off injured in the first half. The Spaniard was clearly in pain after hitting a cross, it looked like a twist in his knee. Nahuel Molina came in instead as wingback.
There was no Atlético that screamed creativity, not even on the edges did they get past or through Benfica’s back line. Best friends Griezmann and De Paul were the players you expected more from.
After the goal, it was mostly half-chances or situations that could have become dangerous situations if the last pass was set. There, it was Benfica who looked the hottest.
Benfica were probably happy with their first half. An early lead goal then they could play for most of the time. Either through low defensive play or rolling the ball into the back line. Bruno Lage’s men didn’t play the most entertaining football but they still went into half-time in the lead. But it could have been a bigger lead. A quick throw-in at the end of stoppage time gave Di Maria the ball who folded in from his edge and shot, but his shot was blocked and landed by Pavlidis who placed the ball wide of the post.
An obviously dissatisfied Diego Simeone made three changes. In came Sörloth, Gallagher and Serrano, out went Koke, De Paul and Griezmann. Whether those were necessary changes due to the fixture schedule or their poor performances I will leave unsaid but there are arguments for both.
The changes at half time had the opposite effect. Just five minutes in, the referee awards a penalty to Benfica. Pavlidis himself is against three Atlético players and instead of winning the ball Giménez happened to stamp the Greek and clear penalty. Angel Di Maria handled the penalty with ease.
A minute later it was almost three for the home team. A cross from Di Maria reached Pavlidis who steered the ball towards goal but Oblak got there and saved. A minute after that, Di Maria came free against Oblak but finished in the middle of the goalkeeper.
Benfica defended with a five-back line in the second half. They played with a straight and clear 5-3-2.
It would even be embarrassing. Alexander Bah would completely close the game with a quarter of an hour left. The Dane headed in a corner taken in by Beste. Conor Gallagher didn’t follow his mark fully and Bah was awarded a free header.
Before the match was over, Orkun Kökcü entered his name in the score sheet. Once again the referee blew for a penalty to Benfica. A quick switch for Benfica allowed Amdouni to get one on one with Giménez. After the striker dribbled past Reinildo raced in but missed the tackle completely and clear penalty again. Kökcü stepped up to the penalty spot and thundered the ball into the goal. The camera moved to Atlético’s gloomy bench where everyone looked like a question mark.
In the end, Atlético’s loss was no worse than 4–0, but it could have been even worse. Rollheiser was first on to a long ball and sent in a cross that missed everyone in the box but landed at Beste who pulled but Oblak saved. Later in added time, Amdouni had a shot just wide after a high ball win.
My thoughts on the match
It seemed like the whole team was scared or not really fired up. It may be to Benfica’s credit that they put on an incredible game but Atlético were hardly dangerous and lacked everything. With Sörloth at the top, it is an advantage if you can get around the edges and submit posts, but that never happened. It was either closed or no runs. In any case, it can’t get any worse against Sociedad this weekend.
There’s not much more to say than that it was a lousy effort. It would not have surprised me if the players were allowed to go home from Portugal.
Now you can’t even be happy that Real Madrid lost.
1 comments
Johannes Sandbergjsandb3rg@gmail.com@JohannesSandbe92024-10-02 23:08:00
