In the Zone: How Barcelona's transitions and Atalanta's bravery were both rewarded

"I loved hearing our fans roar here," said Gian Piero Gasperini, the Atalanta coach, after his side's exciting 2-2 draw at Barcelona on Wednesday night. Yet it was not solely Atalanta's fans with reason to cheer after a Champions League contest which showcased the attacking quality of both clubs – a match marked by offensive fluidity, with players interchanging positions, combining cleverly and advancing at pace.

Quick-thinking forward play was prevalent from both teams and this analysis brought to you by FedEx begins with an example of Barcelona doing just that.

In the first clip above, we see them start from deep then go direct with Wojciech Szczęsny's ball to Lamine Yamal, who has drifted to the right. The youngster produces a wonderful piece of improvisation – a chest-flick to Robert Lewandowski – and thanks to that combination between the two, Yamal gets away, cutting inside the defender as he advances infield and so nearly freeing Raphinha, but for Marten De Roon's superb, last-ditch intervention.

There is much detail to admire here and Cristian Chivu, the UEFA match observer, applauded Barcelona for "trying to take advantage of fast transitions with the speed and quality of Yamal and Raphinha".

Although that sequence was in the first half, it was after the break that Barcelona looked increasingly to swift attacks of this kind, as full-back Jules Koundé observed: "They [Atalanta] are a team who press very well and play 1v1 and it is hard to find space. In the second half, we played better, we found more solutions and we adapted."

With their man-marking across the pitch, Atalanta had made it difficult for Barcelona to control the rhythm of the game up to then and home coach Hansi Flick admitted: "In the second half we wanted to make things a little bit different, so the first goal was like that."

That opening strike is shown in the second clip which begins with Barcelona building from the back again. The principles are the same: a ball out to full-back Alejandro Balde; the direct pass up to Lewandowski; then his instant touch to send Raphinha away. Finally, from the Brazilian's first-time cross, Yamal – with his individual quality – does the rest.

To sum it up, it's about quick passing and players attacking spaces, and it posed Atalanta problems as captain De Roon reflected. "In the second half, Barcelona came out strong – [they] were more direct to the strikers," he said. "With the space we leave behind, we were struggling a bit. But we tried to attack behind their defenders and we didn't let our heads go down."

Indeed, the third and final clip, featuring Atalanta's play in the lead-up to their second equaliser, captures much of what was impressive about the visiting side, who came back twice to earn their point. To quote Chivu once more: "Atalanta showed courage, overloading and creating superiority on both sides of the field, with runs behind the defensive line from the full-backs, midfielders and attackers."

In this case, it is the run from Mario Pašalić which proves decisive. As the video shows, he is involved initially in dropping to collect from Giorgio Scalvini before feeding the ball to Juan Cuadrado on the right. Watch the movement thereafter as Pašalić runs in behind and receives De Roon's brilliant, angled ball to equalise. With attacking play of this calibre, the Atalanta skipper was certainly correct to conclude: "I think it must have been a nice game to watch."