Champions League Performance Insights: Liverpool overcome Atleti through adaptability, pressing power and mental resilience

How do you win a UEFA Champions League match? The simple answer at Anfield on Wednesday night was provided with Virgil van Dijk's 92nd-minute header.

Yet the reality revealed by Liverpool’s see-saw contest with Atleti was that an elite European contest tests players and coaches in a variety of ways.

“One of the things you must have is mentality, is fitness but you also need quality,” said Liverpool head coach Arne Slot immediately after the Reds’ 3-2 victory.

The UEFA analysis unit and UEFA Technical Observer Rafa Benítez explore the demands of a match of momentum swings and shifting tactical requirements in which the Reds’ adaptability proved telling.

Hosts' flying start

Liverpool’s excellent movement and passing combinations allowed them to unlock Atleti’s low block in the early stages as they built a 2-0 lead. As UEFA Technical Observer Benítez explained in his post-match analysis, their speed and fluidity opened up space to exploit in the attacking third.

"They played quick between the lines and had players going forward when receiving the ball," the former Liverpool boss said.

The video above gives an example of Liverpool’s ability to create space in between the lines: look at how Florian Wirtz drops back to find the pocket of space opened up by Ryan Gravenberch’s movement in the opposite direction. The movement of Jeremie Frimpong was important for the same reason.

This graphic illustrates Atleti’s shape in a 5-4-1 low block in the first 15 minutes – and shows the average position of the players. To get through that block required quick, incisive passing and excellent decision-making.

Pressure praised

The second point to make concerns the intensity of Liverpool’s pressing as they took charge of the game. “The main thing is you have all the strikers, midfielders and also the defenders – especially with full-backs going to press high,” said Benítez.

As a measure of this, Liverpool ended the match having had almost double the number of ball recoveries in the opposition half as Atleti, with 18 to the visitors’ ten despite having more possession.

“They were stronger in the challenges,” added Benítez, praising their ability to “press with intensity and regain the ball quickly when they'd lost it, winning second balls."

An excellent example of Liverpool’s pressing is shown in the clip above. From a low block, they end up forcing Atleti back as they press high up the pitch. Eventually, Dominik Szoboszlai blocks a Pablo Barrios pass to set up a shooting chance for Mohamed Salah.

Atleti respond

As the game developed, Atleti managed to start pushing Liverpool back. “From 15-20 minutes we started to show we were in the game,” said head coach Diego Simeone.

With Julian Álvarez injured and Alexander Sørloth starting on the bench, Atleti played without a target striker – as the graphic above displays. At times this posed a question to Liverpool’s defenders over whether or not to step out.

The video below shows Atleti progressing with that front four, with the two central attackers, Antoine Griezmann and Giacomo Raspadori, dropping to help them build from the midfield area. Atleti’s defensive balance helps them pin Liverpool back.

While Marcos Llorente’s first goal on the stroke of half-time gave Atleti some belief, Liverpool were often alert to the danger and got the first contact on crosses or cutbacks, their defence led by the excellent Van Dijk on a night when Atleti’s final Expected Goals (xG) read 0.56 compared to Liverpool’s 2.72.

Reds' second-half counterattacking threat

Simeone admitted afterwards that “against the counterattacks we suffered” – a consequence of having to chase the game as they battled back to 2-2.

This video below provides the perfect example of a lovely Liverpool breakaway as they spring forward from their own penalty box in a move led by Wirtz and Szoboszlai which ends with a Salah shot against the post.

From a coaching perspective, it is worth noting the speed and precision of Slot’s forwards who drive upfield with the minimum amount touches – just eight between Van Dijk’s defensive header and Salah’s strike.

For Benítez, this underlined Liverpool’s ability to adapt their game depending on the situation. He said: “Liverpool have a clear idea: keep a high tempo in possession and be sure that they press quickly when they give the ball away. But if they have to change and play with a low or mid-block to defend and play counterattack, they can do it because they know that they have the pace and the ability up front.

“They were very dominant in the first half, pressing with intensity and moving the ball quickly, but when they needed to defend or they needed to start a little deeper and play on the counterattack, they we able to do that also.”

The end game

“If you want to beat a team like Atleti, you have to show that you can beat them with mentality too,” said Slot, and the 11 minutes between Marcos Llorente’s equaliser and Van Dijk’s winner showcased that mental strength as they snatched victory late on for the fifth match running.

Slot hailed his side’s ability to “push one more time” and the final clip shows them pushing Atleti right back as they probe for opportunities to get the ball into the box. Eventually, from their second corner, they get their third goal.

To put this late pressure into context, between 76 minutes and the final whistle, Liverpool produced ten corners and open-play crosses – just one less than their total up to that point of the match.

Benítez, whose own Liverpool side somehow found a way back from 3-0 down to win the Champions League final in 2005, reflected: “The fact that they’ve scored late goals in a few games shows they have this belief that ‘We will do it again’. It's a virtuous circle. They have the belief and the energy and the ability to do it.”

Coaching reflections: Managing the complex demands of a football match

Kris Van Der Haegen, UEFA's Head of Coach Development, reflects on lessons for coaches from the strategies analysed above.

The lesson of this match is that as a coach you need to be prepared for different eventualities, in your game plan and in your preparation in training sessions.

There are two basic situations in a game of football: you have the ball or you don't have the ball. These are interlinked so when you look at where you defend, for example, you must also consider what this means for your attack. When Liverpool started the game against Atleti pressing high, it meant that if they won the ball back, they’d have two or three seconds to finish the attack.

Liverpool defender Andy Robertson puts pressure on Atleti's Giacomo RaspadoriGetty Images

Yet when Atleti went higher, to get back into the game, Liverpool ended up sitting a little bit low. So now they were defending deep and you ask, as a coach: what does that mean for the attack, for the transitions?

If you see the clip above of the counterattack where Salah hits the post, that’s a consequence of defending deep. When you are defending your box with a lot of bodies, that means there is a huge space in front. As a coach, you have to ask: do we have the physical capacities to sprint 70 metres with three or four players to finish that transition?

From a coaching perspective, therefore, it’s very important to highlight that the way you defend is connected to the way you attack and the other way around; you cannot separate attacking from defending and defending from attacking. You have to be mindful all the time about this transition between the two.

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah bursts forwardGetty Images

This brings us to the importance of transitions. With youth players, I compare it with traffic lights. They must learn that you have the green light, which is attacking, and the red light for defending.

Then there is amber which is the transition and the faster you switch from green to red, or vice versa, this makes the difference. When you have the ball, some players on the pitch are preparing for not having the ball in a split-second. And with the speed of transition, it's not just physical, in your running, but also in the brain. Can you switch quickly? Moreover, is your mental endurance big enough to do this for 90 minutes or more?

Virgil van Dijk headed the Liverpool winner in the second minute of added timeUEFA via Getty Images

As we saw in this game, there are momentum shifts too. The opposition and their tactical approach will affect your team and players must be prepared for periods where the opposition will have the momentum. In those periods they’ll be in a medium or a low block and they need to be prepared for that. They need to be aware of which will be the key zones for winning the ball back and launching the counterattack or for defending.

There’s the psychological aspect too – mental strength. Nobody, for example, would have thought Atleti had a chance at 2-0. But then just before half-time, they scored a goal and then, late in the second half, got back to 2-2. You saw, psychologically, Liverpool’s strength. How many goals do they score after the 90th minute? They know they’re able to do it and they push and push, with crosses and corner-kicks, until they score.

Ultimately, this tells us there are about five or six different elements needed to win a football match.

A youth coach needs to have a philosophy, first and foremost, but also needs to be able to help players to be flexible and have the adaptability to read the game in the right way and to find a solution.

That means game management and it is the most difficult thing because the game can change so quickly and you cannot foresee all the scenarios. In short, that’s the complexity of football.