Atletico Madrid’s reductive football exposed by Phil Foden magic as Diego Simeone’s side lack bite

Manchester City 1-0 Atletico Madrid: The Spaniards defended admirably without offering a significant threat at the Etihad

Diego Simeone must attack to reverse the tie in Madrid (Getty)

After a vintage Atletico Madrid approach, their manager came out with a customary Diego Simeone line.

“We had to suffer.”

So, many might respond, did those watching. This 1-0 defeat at Manchester City was not exactly an epic.

And yet for a team that can make games as uninspiring as the Spanish champions – a status it would be easy to forget amid displays like this – they do provoke a lot of debate.

The most common is about the very idea of playing like this. As a consequence, it’s often said they “deserve” to lose, and that’s morally rather than on the actual merits of any performance.

The truth is we’re long past the point of such discussions. It is what they are. It is what Simeone is. It’s their nature, like the scorpion. Against City, however, it came without any sting at all.

That leads onto the more relevant debate.

How do you go from an approach where you don’t even have a shot on target to one where you absolutely have to score?

It is all the more dangerous given that City’s decisive goal actually came from a period when Atletico tried to step up, but also – crucially – after the mercurial Phil Foden stepped on.

That may be someway instructive, especially as regards Atletico’s status as champions.

Phil Foden inspired Man City after coming off the bench (AP)

They aren’t what they were, and yet they won the title, partly because Spanish football is in a spell where La Liga isn’t where it was.

A danger here is that, right now, sides like City are at a level far above anything in Spain. For that moment in the second half, it was almost like Foden, 21, was just too quick for them.

It was like what English teams used to face in the 1990s, and it was pointed out by a lot of people during this game how so much of this match was a reverse of that reality.

Nowadays, since it’s the most international league of all, it is the top Premier League teams that will dictate the game with the most sophisticated tactical systems.

Kevin De Bruyne finished smartly when the chance came (Getty)

And yet that’s also one of a few reasons that Simeone will play like this. It’s also part of something larger.

It could be argued that the Argentine’s approach is really ultra-realist football, and the simple logic of his game plan did at least seem understandable when he laid out. It was all about boiling the game down to the basics.

City naturally score a majority of their goals at home, at about 60 per cent this season, so it was better to just keep this tight – especially without the benefit of the away goal rule.

“Numbers speak for themselves, stats speak for themselves,” Simeone began. “The amount of goals they score at home, they play in a very dynamic way, they push players forward, always looking to play collectively in a lovely way.

“We play just with that feeling that we want to go through, looking to face a team that have the weapons they have. In the first half we defended extremely well.

“They managed to score because they attacked in a very good way. In the second half we could have attacked a bit better in a few situations on the counter attack. We had to suffer. We have to go to Madrid now and do the same and use the tools we have at our disposal.”

So, how does Simeone actually envisage that?

Things got heated towards the end of the first leg (PA)

“It is not about words, it is about facts and doing things. What happens on the pitch will dictate what we do.”

But what does he expect on the pitch?

“Humility, energy, hard work and understanding what is the path where we can hurt them.”

Simeone had better hope he has that figured out. At the least, for the moment, there is only one in it. A City side that score so much were restricted.

Mission accomplished in some senses. Anything can now happen with a tie that tight, especially when you defend as doggedly as Atletico. All it takes is one bounce to change things.

It’s just that is the most reductive football possible. Atletico, against a team that push the limits of the sport like City, are surely going to need something more.