Manchester City vs. Atletico Madrid: Diego Simeone's plans fall flat as defense-first becomes defense-only

Atletico Madrid failed to record a single official shot against Manchester City

MANCHESTER -- Only Diego Simeone knows whether he really believed that his approach could work. Was Atletico Madrid's only chance of getting anything against Manchester City by abandoning all ambition, waiting for a mistake that might never come and hoping that a back line that isn't what it was might be able to cling on?

In the end it did not. La Liga's reigning champions were lucky to escape the Etihad Stadium trailing only to Kevin De Bruyne's 70th minute goal after a game in which they had offered next to nothing beyond the small area in front of their box. Simeone has used these tactics to infuriate Pep Guardiola in the past, knocking Bayern Munich out at the Champions League semifinals six years ago, but lightning tends not to strike the same person twice.

Generally, if you allow an opponent to have 302 touches in your final third while you register 260 fewer, if you lose the shot battle 15-0 and go several minutes without even touching the ball, you are not going to get a smash-and-grab 1-0 win. Indeed, you should probably take your 1-0 defeat and be grateful for it. If there was a brief moment where it seemed City's neuroses in this competition might get the better of them, it faded into insignificance set against those lengthy spells where it was apparent, Atleti could not just sit back and wait for something to happen.