The story behind Marcos Llorente's positional change

It seems as if it was a last-minute realisation or a lightbulb moment when Diego Simeone made the decision to put Marcos Llorente further forward, yet this is a positional change that was thought of long ago.

We have to go back as far as November 2019 to discover just when Simeone came to the conclusion that Llorente could be of use further forward.

Given that Diego Costa has missed much of the campaign through injury and given that Joao Felix has struggled to adapt, Llorente's skillset was analysed by Simeone and, after using him on the right wing at Valencia and against Liverpool, the Spaniard has been played even further forward since the restart and has responded well.

"Never in his life did he imagine being used as a forward, but seeing him train and his technical attributes we began to view it as an option," Simeone explained.

"We saw that he was creating goals, scoring goals and also doing it in training.

"We discussed the move with him and it was an important alternative at a position on the pitch where it can give us added pressure."

In Llorente's last seven matches, he has scored four goals and added three assists in just 391 minutes of football, and this is quite the return.

His physical stature allows him to press opposing defences from the front and he can spearhead counter attacks, something which Atletico Madrid's game has been built upon under the former River Plate coach.

After g from rivals Real Madrid in the summer, there was an initial period of bemusement at just why Llorente wasn't being used by Simeone.

He wasn't really in the coach's plans until matchday 14 when he began to perform and now, with the Anfield miracle in his back pocket, he is essentially a new g for Los Rojiblancos' attack.

It remains to be seen whether Simeone will stick with this tactic in matches, especially with the Spaniard one caution away from a suspension.