La Liga 2017/18: Atletico Madrid 1-1 Barcelona; 5 talking points

#4. Atletico Madrid were resolute in defence and toothless in attack

Barcelona regained the ball from the Atletico attackers one too many times

Atletico Madrid did have their fair share of chances but their attacking moves lacked the level of intensity needed to break down the Barca defence.

Antoine Griezmann was lively and made a great run and even nutmegged Pique before forcing a save off ter Stegen. But he passed up a chance to free up Correa later on and snuffed a chance to perhaps, extend their lead in the second half. However, their infirmity in attack is also due to the fact that they were always cautious to not let Barcelona break free.

They held their defensive shape well and was never in a situation where they could have been outnumbered. This worked well for a large portion of the game and they were even effective in silencing Messi.

However, if they had piled on the pressure after the goal and went ahead and got another goal, they could have well and truly knocked Barcelona out of the game.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Shambhu Ajith