La Liga Analysis · Atlético Madrid
From Oblak to Giuliano Across 80 Metres
The 2-0 goal at Levante began with Jan Oblak and travelled through Pablo Barrios and Álex Baena before Giuliano finished. Atlético linked several role experiments in one move.
The second goal began beside Oblak
Atlético Madrid's second goal at Levante began roughly 80 metres from the finish. Jan Oblak played into the first line. Marcos Llorente and Marc Pubill helped move the ball toward the right. Pablo Barrios escaped pressure near the touchline and released Álex Baena into open grass. Baena carried, waited for Giuliano Simeone's run and delivered the pass that let the winger round Mathew Ryan for 2-0.
The finish was clean. The argument lives in the chain. Across recent matches, Atlético have asked Grimaldo to arrive inside and Barrios to keep contributing beyond his first pass. At the Ciutat de València, those experiments met Baena's timing and Giuliano's run. The goal did not come from a star rescuing a broken possession. It came from a sequence of players understanding the next job.
Diego Simeone should preserve that chain against Bayern Munich and Barcelona. Not the exact choreography—better opponents will close different doors—but the permission for Barrios to beat a line, Baena to receive facing forward and Giuliano to run before the final pass asks him.
Barrios turned escape into attack
Barrios's contribution will not appear as the assist. It should still shape the review. He received with the sideline narrowing his options, used his body to move away from pressure and sent Atlético into the space Levante had exposed. The first pass did not merely avoid danger; it changed the direction of the possession.
Against Manchester United in October, Barrios showed the timing to run beyond the forward pass and score from the second line. At Levante he supplied the earlier action. A midfielder becomes harder to contain when the opponent cannot decide whether his next contribution is the escape, the carry or the arrival.
One early Champions League goal did not make Barrios responsible for a scoring quota. His value is in recognizing what the possession needs. Here, Atlético needed him to turn a cautious beginning into a forward-facing attack, so Baena could take the next decision without receiving under immediate pressure.
Baena waited for Giuliano's speed
Baena's two decisive passes came in different forms. Before the opener, his delicate ball into the area reached Alejandro Grimaldo after Jon Olasagasti failed to clear, and Grimaldo drove the finish past Ryan in the 35th minute. For the second, Baena carried through open space and delayed the pass until Giuliano's run had stretched the last defender and goalkeeper.
The pause mattered. A creator can see the runner and still release too soon, turning speed into an offside flag or a chase toward the corner. Baena let Giuliano's movement define the pass. The winger then changed the ball across his body to evade Ryan. One player protected the timing; the other completed it.
This is the player-first version of vertical football. Barrios earned Baena a better view. Baena gave Giuliano enough space to control the final duel. Giuliano trusted that the ball would arrive if he kept the run alive. Each player made the next player's job reasonable.
Grimaldo's first goal completed the left-side question
Grimaldo scored his fourth goal of the season by appearing where a conventional left-back is not supposed to wait. AS described his attacking movement as difficult to track because he moves inside, outside and into the area. The Levante goal supplied another example: Baena's touch reached him centrally enough to finish with power instead of crossing from the touchline.
Atlético had already seen why that freedom needs cover. A roaming full-back can leave an invoice behind him when possession is lost. At Levante, the first line and midfield were connected enough to stop the hosts from building a repeatable counterattack. Llorente, Pubill and Dávid Hancko protected the circulation while Barrios and Hjulmand stayed available around it.
That does not mean the account always balanced. Etta Eyong broke through after the second goal and Oblak's left boot denied him with enough goal exposed to change the match. Atlético's structure reduced the danger; the goalkeeper still had to rescue it once.
The open field flatters the chain
Atlético also had goals by Morten Hjulmand and Hancko ruled out for offside, and Kang-in Lee struck the crossbar after Barrios and Baena connected. The volume makes the victory convincing, but it creates a temptation to call every attack proof that the system has arrived fully formed.
The strongest objection is the opponent and the game state. Levante began ambitiously, then had to chase after Grimaldo's goal. More space appeared for the 80-metre move because Atlético had the lead and Levante needed to advance. Bayern will press the first pass with greater speed; Barcelona may leave transition space while offering much more punishment if Atlético lose the ball.
Atlético do not yet own a universal buildup. They now have a documented chain that can turn a deep possession into a clean chance through shared decisions. The next test is whether the supporting distances survive when the first receiver has less time.
Bayern will close the first door
Atlético host Bayern in the Champions League on November 3, then Barcelona in La Liga five days later. Those matches will test the move at two speeds. Bayern will challenge the escape near Atlético's own box; Barcelona will test whether the cover behind Grimaldo and Barrios can survive a lost pass.
Watch Atlético's first pressured possession on the right. Can Barrios receive without becoming the end of the move? Does Baena stay close enough to turn the escape into an attack? Does Giuliano begin his run while the passer still has options, rather than after the defence has reset? And when Grimaldo moves inside, who has already protected the left?
The goal at Levante belongs on the review screen because it gave every experiment a neighbor. Barrios escaped, Baena chose and Giuliano finished; Grimaldo had already shown how an unexpected arrival could change the box. If Atlético preserve those permissions under Bayern's pressure, the 80 metres will become more than a beautiful journey. They will become a route the players know how to rebuild.
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