Alex Baena’s Late Strike Gives Atlético the Win Over Espanyol

Espanyol kept the middle locked down first

Espanyol set up in a tight formation and invited Atlético to work the flanks. This cut down the clean balls that reached the box and left the score unchanged for long stretches. Whenever Atlético turned the ball over, the home side closed down the first player to receive it hard enough that a quick follow-up attack never materialised.

That approach had a downside, as Espanyol was stuck protecting its own half far more often than it was building anything lasting going forward. Keeping a clean sheet was still within reach, yet each late Atlético spell narrowed the room for mistakes. A single breached line would send the back four retreating towards their goal.

Baena exploited the gap once the wall moved

Atlético’s winner came once Espanyol pushed up and opened space for the visitors to switch play across the pitch. Baena ran into the channel that had appeared and finished the move with the sharpness the game had lacked until then. With the goal arriving so late, Espanyol had hardly any time to reorganise its disciplined shape into something threatening.

Julián Alvarez came close to a second in added time, firing an effort narrowly wide. The visitors had no real need for another, yet that opportunity illustrated how much more room opened up once the home team had to chase the game.

A tight victory still exposes some weaknesses

Atlético earn praise for keeping their back line in motion rather than resorting to speculative crosses. The display also highlighted how a packed defence can blunt them when the first forward pass comes late. Against sides copying Espanyol’s approach, the full-back and the outside centre-back will need to combine their movement more often.

Espanyol go home empty-handed even though they did most of what they set out to do defensively. The fix is obvious: after winning the ball under pressure, their first two passes have to move play far enough away from their own area to let the block recover. Without that, a disciplined afternoon can still be undone by a single late move towards goal.