Atlético extend their agony at the Champions League with a new nightmare. Julian Nagelsmann´s squad showed off their offensive virtues through a fast ball movement, boosted by a hybrid system that provided them with players superiority on the opponent´s half and turned into continuos breakdowns on an Atlético defense that is usually very solid.
Cholo´s team couldn´t control full-backs Laimer and Angeliño runs on the wings, or Dani Olmo creativity in the middle. It is very tough to defend against a rival like this one. If that was not enough, Leipzig did not make any mistake on the ball circulation in their half. Starting with an outstanding performance by central defender Upamecano, they really showed big confidence on making passes that just wore out Atlético as time passed by.
Atlético were claiming Joao Félix to go in, but Cholo, prisoner of his conservative DNA, took too much time to make the substitution. This way, Leipzig had to get ahead on the scoreboard to make him react, but certainly the change made a huge difference. The Portuguese created space by driving the ball and showed the way to his team. He obtained a penalty and he scored it to make the equalizer: there was hope.
Atlético ended better, closer to the second goal than Leipzig, but a decent performance on the last twenty minutes was not enough to balance the German´s top quality with the ball, as they directed their attacks while Atlético had to look for second plays. A heartless rebound in the last minute turned into Leipzig´s winning goal by Tyler Adams, bringing with it the ghosts that Atlético face each year at their cursed competition, where they fall once again on the road. Football is like this.
