Atletico Madrid beat Manchester United 2-0 to secure their first win in the Champions League this campaign.
It was the perfect start for Diego Simeone‘s side, while simultaneously being the worst start possible for Michael Carrick‘s side, as Pablo Barrios finished off a move where Atletico Madrid worked it from back to front through the Manchester United press.
Manchester United had a period in the first half after the early goal where they managed to create a few half chances, but after Atletico Madrid weathered the small storm, they were able to control proceedings until half-time and take a 1-0 lead in at the break.
In the 74th minute, Leny Yoro was sent off for a challenge on the last man, getting tangled up with Jonathan David as the last man, resulting in his dismissal.
Atletico Madrid then added their second to put the game to bed, with Ademola Lookman scoring in the 79th minute, coming from the bench to seal the victory and all three points.
In this article, we’ll cover
New shape for Carrick?
Carrick tried something new in an attempt to turn the tides for Manchester United, starting with Youri Tielemans in the number 10, allowing Carlos Baleba and Andrey Santos to form the double pivot behind him.
This saw Bruno Fernandes shift over to the right side, with Marcus Rashford starting on the left and Bryan Mbeumo leading the line.
With Fernandes starting on the right, Diogo Dalot often pushed forward to provide the width down that side, allowing the captain to drift inside.
There was a host of in-possession rotations in play, as Santos dropped between the two centre-backs, with Ayden Heaven playing at left-back, staying in a more reserved full-back zone, while Dalot, as previously mentioned, pushed higher.
Against Atletico Madrid’s 5-3-2 shape, this gave Carrick’s side the 3v2 overload against their front two, but their main source of threat came through a tension these rotations forced on Atletico’s defensive shape.
With Julian Alvarez and Lee Kang-In pressing Manchester United’s make-shift back three with Santos dropped in, it would often be Barrios who had to apply pressure by either jumping to Lisandro Martinez or Heaven when trying to press.
This left Manchester United with two potential advantages. The first one being Tielemans as the “free” man between the lines, as they had created a 3v2 overload in midfield with Baleba and Fernandes against Johnny Cardoso and Alex Baena.
Marcos Llorente was then expected to jump out and apply pressure to Tielemans, leaving Rashford in a 1v1 against Giuliano Simeone, who is naturally more of a forward than he is a defender.
Unfortunately, Manchester United were unable to establish enough control in the game to arrive in these phases of settled possession where they could hurt Atletico Madrid with these tensions in their block, and this was largely down to their pressing issues.
United’s pressing struggles
Carrick didn’t just change the in-possession dynamics and shape of his team, he also made adjustments out-of-possession, shifting to more of a 4-2-4 high block.
There were clear pressing triggers in place from this shape, with Fernandes jumping onto David Hancko, Mbeumo looking to cover Cardoso in the pivot, Tielemans jumping onto Cristian Romero and Rashford then looking to cover Llorente.
With Fernandes jumping onto the right centre-back, it was Dalot’s responsibility to jump onto Alejandro Grimaldo at left-back, with Yoro shifting over to cover Baena on the left, while Santos covered access to Alvarez dropping between the lines.
Atletico Madrid’s opening goal saw this press in action just 38 seconds into the game, as Romero was able to find a pass into the centre, with Baleba dragged slightly wide by Barrios, opening the entry pass into Lee’s feet.
Now it’s fair to say Manchester United were unlucky in this incident, as Baleba attempted to get back inside and cut the pass out, tipping it just out of Martinez’s reach, who was following Lee into the centre and looked nailed on for the duel. But once Lee got the ball, Baena’s clever run between Dalot (who had one eye on Grimaldo) and Yoro was found, before the late arriving Barrios received the pass across the box to guide it home.
While the structure in itself isn’t a problem, Manchester United struggled with their timings and distances in the press, with Atletico Madrid consistently finding ways to receive with separation from their man.
This occurred both with the front press arriving in time to apply pressure, but also with the centre-backs stepping up to follow their men, which often helped Atletico Madrid build out and through the press to arrive in more settled possession.
Fernandes struggles again
After winning the Premier League POTY award last campaign, Fernandes hasn’t had the best start to the 2026/27 season, with four of his five goal contributions coming against Ipswich in their 5-2 win.
Playing off the right in this game, the Manchester United captain struggled to impact the game, providing one key pass and one big chance created, but also losing possession 11 times.
Many of his attempted forward passes were wide of the mark, either missing their target or being poorly executed and not arriving with the correct technique, making them easier to cut out.
While there is a sense of pressure for Fernandes to play the killer pass and make things happen, his direct nature to hunt these opportunities can also lead to “diminishing returns”, a concept spoken about in Ian Graham’s book, “How To Win The Premier League”.
The gist of this idea is that by Fernandes looking to play forward passes without taking other options into account, he could be missing other options to progress the ball into more dangerous areas, which could result in better chances for others.
It’s tough to suggest Manchester United should look to change Fernandes’ mindset, when you consider the success and output he bought them last campaign, but especially while he isn’t’ in his finest vein of form, it would be remiss to ignore it all together.