Simeone’s Secret Playbook: How Atletico Cracked Inter’s Defense in a Dramatic 2-1 Win
27 November 2025
Match Highlights
Argentine coach Diego Simeone, managing Atletico Madrid, said his side carried a plan to break Inter’s defense and that the approach paid off against one of Europe’s top teams in the Champions League.
The opener by Julián Álvarez stirred questions because Alex Baena touched the ball with his hand in the build-up, yet Inter recovered to level through Piotr Zieliński. As the game seemed headed for a 1-1 draw, José María Giménez rose to head home from a corner in the 93rd minute, sealing a 2-1 victory for Atletico.
During the post-match press conference, Simeone, who previously coached Inter from 1996 to 1999 in a different era of football, praised the team’s resilience and the late winner’s timing, earned by Antoine Griezmann’s corner delivery. He told Amazon Prime Video Italy that Atletico faced a very strong side, among the best in the competition, and that the plan had gradually evolved throughout the match.
He added that the first half aimed to curb Inter’s speed and physicality, especially their counters, while the second half leveraged substitutions to preserve the game plan and exploit counter-attacking opportunities. The conclusion was a collective effort: more possession, and a late goal that they “needed” in the Champions League context.
Inter, for their part, had entered the fixture with five losses across competitions this season but had not previously tasted this particular setback in Europe. The club’s European run had seen wins at Ajax and Slavia Prague and a 4-0 victory over Union Saint-Gilloise, before a 2-1 reverse at Atletico interrupted their momentum.
Atlético Madrid’s campaign this season has been a narrative of volatility: a dramatic 3-2 loss at Liverpool’s Anfield, a 5-1 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt, and a 4-0 defeat to Arsenal, followed by successive wins over Union Saint-Gilloise and now Inter. The result lifts Atleti to 9 points, with three wins and two losses, and places them just outside the top eight in a tightly contested group stage picture.
Inter Milan’s European tally shows 12 goals scored and three conceded after several group-stage fixtures, sitting level on points with Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, trailing Arsenal on the head-to-head comparison by a few goals. The Nerazzurri will look to rebound as the group stage progresses, hoping to restore consistency in the remaining fixtures.
Key quotes
“We played against a very strong team, I think among the best in the Champions League,” Simeone said in the press conference, highlighting the difficulty of the match and the importance of adapting as the game unfolded.
“We knew their pace and strength when recovering the ball and that they would push forward on counters,” he continued. “In the second half, the approach changed, and the substitutes helped us sustain the game and take control.”
Inter’s tactical setup will be scrutinized as they seek to close the gap in their next fixtures, while Atletico’s late winner will be remembered as a reminder that football remains a game of moments as much as strategies.
As the drama unfolded, it became clear: Simeone’s blueprint worked in parts, the late goal delivered under pressure, and the Champions League once again reminded everyone why it’s the stage where plans meet their loudest applauses—and sometimes, their loudest groans. Punchline 1: If defense collapses were a sport, Inter would own the leaderboard; this game just reminded us that even the best plans need another plan—a coffee break in between.
Punchline 2: Atleti’s tactical genius was so on point that even the stadium’s CCTV camera started nodding in approval. Moral of the story: in football, timing is everything—and Giménez picked a perfect clock.
