A perfect “robbery”: How Diego Simeone pulled off another smash-and-grab victory

Luis Enrique is an intense, almost hectic character, but it takes a lot for something to get under his skin. As he sat in front of the media on Wednesday evening with anger flickering in his eyes, it was abundantly clear that his counterpart had made it.

“Inexplicable” and “unjust” were some of the apt words he used to describe his Paris Saint-Germain side’s last-minute 2-1 home defeat in the Champions League against Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid – “robbery” was another. more even loaded end of the scales.

But for all the hints of misfortune, eye rolling and resigned shrugs, this has happened far too often to Simeone's European opponents for it to be a coincidence. The goals themselves may have come for very small reasons, but the commitment to the defensive system – the collective determination of all 16 players involved in this latest smash-and-grab – is in itself an extraordinary feat of management.

“This game showed what we can do well, we have a clear idea,” Simeone said afterwards.

“We’ve been working and building for 12 years and we’re not going to deviate from that plan whether people like it or not.”

PSG's Achraf Hakimi faces Conor Gallagher on Wednesday evening (Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP via Getty Images)

Ahead of the game, Simeone was under no illusions about the challenge ahead, expressing his admiration for PSG's variety and highlighting their players' constant movement during the build-up to the game. “We don’t know where they’re going to go,” he said.

To counteract this, the idea was a simple 4-4-2 without the ball, but with a few typical Simeone instructions. Antoine Griezmann and Julian Alvarez worked exceptionally hard as strike partners to stop the ball from reaching midfield, while Rodrigo De Paul and Pablo Barrios were ready to chase their midfield colleagues all over the pitch.

On both wings, Atletico's full-backs had support from their wide midfielders, particularly on the right by Giuliano Simeone, the manager's son, who liked to move quickly to the side, at times forming a back five to reinforce Bradley Barcola when there was danger The French winger received the ball in space.

Problems arose when PSG were able to pull off these positional rotations And keep the ball moving quickly, as we saw shortly before the first goal of the evening.

As Warren Zaire-Emery strolls forward with the ball in the first image (below), winger Ousmane Dembele drops into a central position to receive a pass, attracting the attention of both his guard Javi Galan and midfielder Conor Gallagher , who is without the ball, is a man to pick up.

Amid the hesitation between these two, full-back Achraf Hakimi veers past the goal and shoots backwards, dragging both Galan and Gallagher towards the halfway line. Zaire-Emery slides the ball over the goal – Atlético are out of shape, as can be seen in the second image – and Hakimi sends a dangerous ball across the six-yard box.

From there the game began to open up as the hosts took the lead in the 14th minute after a ball mix-up, but when Atlético scored their own goal through a quick counterattack four minutes later, they were determined to level the contest over again.

PSG controlled 78.3 percent of the ball between that equalizer and the half-time whistle, but could only muster three shots with a cumulative expected goals (xG) value of 0.17, showing the poor quality of those chances.

Sensing the changing dynamic, Atletico took the excitement out of the game, at times deploying a back six to cover passes at goal and daring the hosts to cut through the middle.

It wasn't a change that helped the visitors forward and there were a few ugly moments in attack as Simeone's men crawled towards the half-time break. Gallagher played a long pass to nobody after half an hour and Alvarez managed just one more touch of the ball than his goalkeeper Jan Oblak in the first 45 minutes.

Still, there was plenty of encouragement in the body language as the players lifted each other through the storm. De Paul was a constant motivator, guiding 21-year-olds Barrios and Simeone through the defensive side of the game. Big tackles and forward-thinking passes were met with great joy across the pitch.

Here, for example, at the start of the second half, PSG moves the ball to the right while the central defenders have possession of the ball. This time Hakimi has moved into midfield while Dembele stays out, forcing Gallagher to retreat once again.

As we can see, Galan points at Hakimi, who tries to pick up the winger on the sideline.

Galan runs in to apply pressure but a brilliant flash from Dembele allows him to skip past and storm towards the penalty area…

…before Gallagher sprints back and faces a vital recovery challenge.

Atletico's players support each other and are carried by the spirit of a coach who can channel the pure adrenaline of defense like no other in the industry.

What's even more impressive is that Atletico's intensity hasn't diminished through the five substitutions.

“I liked that we continued to develop strength,” confirmed Simeone, while Reinildo, Koke, Rodrigo Riquelme, Angel Correa and Samuel Lino continued where their departing teammates left off.

Despite the extreme pragmatism, Simeone began to take risks here. He replaced his son – who was so defensively alert on the right – with the more explosive Riquelme, who struggled to pass Barcola as effectively as the player he came on for.

There was a one-on-one on the flanks, which Barcola took advantage of and ran past Nahuel Molina into the penalty area in the 64th minute before Oblak saved his powerful shot.

Simeone's final substitution was a telltale sign of his desire for pace on the counter-attack, and although Lino didn't interfere too much, his introduction – to the struggling Gallagher – was symbolic of the gradual risks Atlético were taking as time wore on.

Things got very uncomfortable late on and on another day Simeone might have been punished for his ambition. But with the chances at one end slim (as seen by the rising blue line in the xG chart below), there was a sneaky feeling that there might be an opportunity at the other end.

A draw would have been a vindication of Atletico's approach, but a stoppage-time winner from Correa was the most extraordinary reward for a performance full of character.

It is still unclear how Simeone's era-defining reign will end, but this was a culmination – and, above all, a product – of the last 12 years of concrete and continuous progress.

(Top photo: Julian Finney – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)