Simeone prepares Atlético for duel against Barcelona
Argentine coach of Atlético de Madrid, Diego Simeone, has prepared one of the most intense training sessions of the week ahead of the match against Barcelona in Montjuic.
With the first place in the championship at stake and without a single league win in the Ciudad Condal since he became the colchonero coach, the Atlético technical team sees the key moment to change course.
In the training session, defensive and attacking actions were studied in detail, simulating the movements of the culé players and looking for solutions to each of the possible problems that Barcelona generates in the rival.
The starting lineup for Montjuic will be Oblak; Llorente, Giménez, Lenglet, Galán; Giuliano, De Paul, Barrios, Gallagher; Julián and Griezmann. The idea is to maintain the team that has been rehearsing during the week and to count on Gallagher from the start instead of Lino.
It would be a 4-4-2, although in many moments of the match it will turn into a 6-2-2. For the match, Simeone will have all his players available despite the fact that Correa did not train with his teammates due to a blow suffered the previous day in training.
In training, Simeone wanted to insist on several ideas to stand up to Barcelona and minimize their weapons. In terms of defensive actions, Atlético seeks to close all possible spaces inside to force the rival to play inside, isolate Lewandowski so that he does not receive balls, and leave it to the center-backs to bring the ball out from behind without being able to play in the interior areas.
A clear idea is to prevent the culés from being able to play forward and when they are forced to play back, to cover the spaces inside with the aim of preventing Pedri from doing his thing. On the other hand, something fundamental to beat Barcelona is to overcome their high pressure.
This aspect was also simulated and in it, it will be Lenglet who will have a fundamental role. The Frenchman’s precision to overcome the first azulgrana line will be the main way. A long ball from the Frenchman and a wall with Julián by Giuliano or Llorente can be a way to reach the surroundings of Iñaki Peña.
In addition, a simple goal kick is something that Atlético sees as important to start the attack. Finally, everything rehearsed will be important to achieve a victory, but what is important for the coaches will be the speed of execution. ‘We won’t have time’, due to the intensity of the rival, was the phrase that was repeated in the training session held at the Cerro del Espino.
