The endless discussion of the duel of styles that the tie between Atlético de Madrid and Manchester City meant ended with the roles being changed at the Wanda Metropolitano. Guardiola’s team had to hold on to other football to come out on top in a second half in which they were dominated by Simeone’s. According to data collected by Stats Perform, the second part reached 57 minutes and nine seconds of which only 28 minutes and 18 seconds were effective time. In other words, only 49% of the total time was played. The starkness of the statistic reflects City’s systematic loss of time, delaying every throw-in and lengthening every fall to the ground. Felipe and the chain reaction of Atleti also contributed to this. All in all, it was the game in the history of the Champions League with the longest discount (12’09”) in the final period, precisely beating Milan-Atleti in the group stage (10’37”).
The contrast between the second half and the first reveals City’s behavior even more. The clock went up to 48 minutes and seven seconds in the initial period, with a real game time of 32 minutes and 40 seconds (67% of the total). After the restart City was forced to move away from his style to survive and used all kinds of tricks in his favor. Rodri had no choice but to recognize him after the meeting: “In football everything is lawful. We have tried to play, but in the end they have been locking us up and in the end you play with these types of weapons. I am in favor of not doing it during the whole game, but from time to time you have to play with these things. I don’t think it was excessive.” Although he first refused to speak on the subject, Guardiola, in his own way, also did so: “There were throw-ins. We have tried to do it. We didn’t know what to do and it was a back and forth… Nothing more.”
Atlético-City del Metropolitano had a total time of 105 minutes and 15 seconds. The effective time, however, fell to 60 minutes and 57 seconds. The ball went out of the field up to 92 times and the period in which the ball was in play the longest was 2 minutes and 32 seconds during the first half.
The symptoms of discomfort of the players and the rojiblanco bench due to what happened became evident during the course of the match. Koke later spoke up: “Many times they call us out if we’re wasting time, if we’re anti-football… You can now give your opinion (by the press) from what has been seen in the field. When you are pressing, you are having chances, they fell to the ground, they lost time.. Let’s see what people think now.”