Europa League Performance Insights: How Celta adapted to exploit their numerical advantage
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UEFA's game insights unit and Jan Peder Jalland examine how inside full-backs, advanced No8s and incisive combination play overloaded Lyon's defensive structure.
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The wealth of data pored over to help understand the story of a football match is ever growing. But sometimes the simplest statistics reveal most. Celta's decisive 2-0 second-leg victory away at Lyon in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 last Thursday is a case in point.
It was defined by two figures: ten players and 77 minutes. After Moussa Niakhaté received a 19th-minute red card, Lyon were forced to cope one down until the 96th minute, when Nicolás Tagliafico was also sent off just before the final whistle.
In this article, UEFA's game insights unit – working with UEFA Technical Observer Jan Peder Jalland – will examine Celta's initial approach of overloading Lyon's back four, Lyon coach Paulo Fonseca's switch to a 5-3-1 and the away side's relational and structural approach in the second half to take advantage of their numerical superiority and secure a quarter-final tie against Freiburg.
Celta's early 11v10 strategy
Fonseca switched from 5-3-2 to 4-4-1 after Niakhaté's 19th-minute dismissal by withdrawing Endrick to a right-wing role. In turn, Celta immediately targeted the space between and behind the home side's back four.
The first video illustrates how they did it. In the first clip, we see two consecutive darting runs in between the centre-backs to latch onto passes punched between the left-back and central defender. The second clip emphasises the impact of what Jalland called "well-timed multiple forward runs in behind" exploiting the 5v4 overload on the defensive back line.
Jalland noted the deployment of "high 8s" – notably Fer López (No30) and central midfielder Ilaix Moriba (No6) – as key to overloading the back four. "With a back four facing high 8s running in behind centrally, the full-backs have to move inside to control these runs," he explained.
"This opens up space wide. In the second clip, we see Fer López (No30) in the No8 role running in behind and dragging the full-back with him. This opens space for the diagonal pass. The Lyon left full-back shifts across, but the space now opens up between them. Celta exploit it and López ends up in behind getting another shot on target.
"It's a struggle to defend centrally and wide in this situation," he added. "With one player fewer, you don't manage to step out and press against the midfield and the No9, so it gives attacking players more time on the ball for longer passes."
Fonseca admitted as much after the match. "Playing for so long with ten men is very difficult, especially against a team like Celta," he said. "In the first half, it was hard to control the spaces between centre-back and full-back as they placed a lot of players between the lines."
After the break, he tried to shore up the back line with a 5-3-1 set-up out of possession. "It was a good tactical decision," said Jalland. "Celta posed a threat centrally and wide when going in behind. They had real quality and quantity of forward runs. Sacrificing the wide areas in midfield – with just a three to cover the whole width – to solve the problems in the back line made sense."
Celta's patience and relational threat
Celta's dominance of possession increased from 61% before the break to 68% in the second half as Lyon fell into a low block for long periods. Jalland noted the key features of Celta's adapted strategy to penetrate.
"It's important to keep the tempo high with the ball when facing a low block," he explained. "Don't let the opposition catch their breath. With switches of play, attacking centrally and wide, attacking in behind, and with the right sharpness and timing, space will open up at some point to take advantage of, especially when the opponents are a player down."
The second video clip illustrates the impact of this approach, which was highlighted in the initial article focusing on how full-back Sergio Carreira and winger Hugo Álvarez combined on the left to great effect.
Breaking down the low block
• Keeping the tempo high
• Switching play quickly
• Passers moving the ball fast
• Attacking space in behind
• Using 1v1 dribblers
• Keeping the team balance
"It was less about attacking in between the lines, more about creating in behind," said Jalland, who noted the impact of "clever blindside runs" in combination plays to attack the space and create chances. The numerical advantage gave Celta "more space to play in and use both individual quality in 1v1s and relational combinations", he added.
Structural adaptation to penetrate
Celta's full-backs adapted their positions in the second half. Both left-back Sergio Carreira (No5) and right-back Javi Rodríguez (No32) drifted inside to create central overloads. "Along with the high 8s advancing to pin the centre-backs, this created space to explore outside the Lyon midfield three," said Jalland.
In the final video, we see a patient attack with both full-backs instrumental. "The challenge is to have enough movement forward and at the same time keep the balance of the team," noted Jalland. "It's difficult to win without a good structure and enough balance centrally. It's up to the players take advantage of small 2v1 situations. During the game, it's about probing for the opponents' weak side, looking for any opposition players out of position and for space to take advantage of. The structure of the high 8s and the full-backs inside enabled this to happen."
"The challenge is to have enough movement forward and at the same time keep the balance of the team."
Coaching focus: substitutions and knowing your players
Jalland flagged up Claudio Giráldez's bold approach as instructive for coaches. At half-time, the Celta coach replaced two players on yellow cards. Then, just 12 minutes into the second half, he brought on two attacking players, Ferran Jutglà and Iago Aspas. Four minutes later, Javi Rueda struck to break the deadlock.
"This was an important factor," explained the Norway men's Under-21 coach. "Giráldez knows his players very well and was very decisive by making the early subs. He saw which direction the game was going, which players had yellow cards, and put on the players with the best quality for the match-deciding moments. The subs made a huge impact, and the tactical change of Carreira really impacted the game." Carreira linked up with winger Álvarez well to create the opening goal. Second-half substitute Jutglà sealed the victory by making it 2-0.
Jalland noted the importance of "knowing your players" too. "Different games and phases of game need different qualities," he explained.
"It's important to have different types of players in your squad. As a coach, we all work to develop complete players. But there's always a strength and an identity to each individual. Knowing what this is with each player is vital so you can take advantage of it when needed."
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