Was it a winning goal that never seemed on the cards or a winning goal that felt inevitable?
Either way, Alexander Sorloth’s 96th-minute strike to give Atletico Madrid a 2-1 victory at Barcelona on Saturday night is the most significant goal scored in European football so far this season. Barca, at one point runaway leaders of La Liga, have been reeled in and now overtaken. Atletico are Spain’s Christmas No 1.
That contradiction comes from the nature of Atletico’s performance and the nature of Atletico’s season. On Saturday night, for long periods, they were battered. Barcelona started magnificently, opened the scoring with a wonderful goal by Pedri and could have been out of sight by half-time. After the break, Raphinha lobbed against the crossbar and Robert Lewandowski miscued when presented with the game’s simplest chance (although a VAR review might have disallowed the goal for offside).
For long periods, Diego Simeone’s side were simply hanging on. Then Rodrigo De Paul equalised, firing home a loose ball after a counter-attack, before, deep into stoppage time, Sorloth struck to give Simeone his first away win at Barcelona.
Ultimately, the goal came down to the simplest thing in football — a run wasn’t tracked.
That wasn’t surprising. The player culpable was Alejandro Balde, who is forced to play as left-back and left-winger in this system, and the player he didn’t track was Nahuel Molina. Balde had played 90 minutes and Molina had played only 30.
When De Paul received the ball in his own half, with 30 seconds remaining, he didn’t have the stamina to take the ball forward himself.
But Molina had the speed — and determination — to get beyond Balde and offer a run for a ball in behind.
Molina squared the ball for Sorloth, a fellow substitute…
… and he crashed it home.
The concept of ‘fresh legs’ from the bench is hardly new, of course, but the concept of teams having five substitutions available is, and different coaches have hugely varying approaches.
Across Europe’s major five leagues, almost everyone is using the two ‘extra’ subs — only Everton boss Sean Dyche uses fewer than three substitutes per game this season — but no one is as keen on using changes as Simeone.
He almost always maxes out his five changes every game — 4.89 per game — and he uses them earlier than any other manager. On average, his substitutes get 27 minutes per game each.
Sorloth is his most-used replacement this season, coming on 11 times. Although he began the season as a starter, he’s proved a particularly dangerous substitute.
He’s come off the bench in each of Atletico’s last seven matches in La Liga and scored in five, three of which have been winners. He ran onto two through balls from De Paul against Las Palmas and Alaves, finishing confidently on both occasions. Also last month, he rounded off the scoring in a 5-0 thrashing of Valladolid by tapping in Angel Correa’s selfless pass. He scored a brilliant downward header for the only goal against Getafe from fellow sub Molina’s assist, foreshadowing this famous goal against Barca.
“That’s what a team is: when one player comes off and another player comes on and provides a response,” said Simeone.
“We took (Antoine) Griezmann off early, which is difficult for me, but I knew Sorloth had something that could make us come out from deep and hold onto the ball. I think the substitutions gave us strength; some attacking situations that we found on the counter-attack, an exquisite move, a great goal by Sorloth that allowed us to win a very difficult game.”
As Simeone says, Sorloth is adept at holding play up and waiting for support, but he’s also capable of travelling with the ball, often bulldozing his way past opponents. He is proving the best Plan B around, in part because his coach introduces him — and others — so early.
Indeed, Simeone’s ability to constantly tinker with his side means he regularly changes shape, as well as personnel. On Saturday, he started the game with a narrow 4-4-2 system.
At the start of the second half, he moved Conor Gallagher from the left flank to the No 10 position, creating a midfield diamond.
After making changes to his right flank, Simeone moved to a 5-3-2 formation midway through the second half.
Finally, he dropped Julian Alvarez from up front to the left flank, making a 5-4-1. The changes in formation didn’t always coincide with his substitutions, but he might not have ended up in the latter system had he not been able to rely on Molina, a natural wing-back, or Sorloth, who is comfortable as a lone striker.
Whether those tactical changes actually worked is questionable. Atletico were outplayed for almost the entire game and most of the tinkering was just about holding on, staying in the game and trying to deny Barcelona space in the final third. On another day, Atletico would have been soundly beaten. “In the first half, and I think until our goal, they were far superior to us,” conceded Simeone.
But Simeone also knew that Barcelona have looked tired in recent weeks. He knew they had thrown away two points with two late concessions at Celta Vigo and another at Betis in recent weeks. He knew that Atletico have scored more goals in the final 15 minutes than any side in La Liga. He knew he had five opportunities to change things.
Correa came off the bench to score a 95th-minute equaliser against Real Madrid in September. Sorloth came off the bench to score in the 96th minute at Barcelona here. By the end of the season, those points swings might prove crucial.
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