In the Zone: Real Madrid 1-1 Man City performance analysis
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
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UEFA's Technical Observer panel puts the defensive organisation of both teams and Madrid's clever rotational play under the spotlight.
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The Santiago Bernabéu staged an intriguing UEFA Champions League contest on Tuesday, a semi-final first leg featuring two magnificent long-range strikes which ended with Real Madrid and Manchester City level.
After the ebb and flow had ceased, there were plenty of talking points for the UEFA Technical Observers' panel to dwell on, including the defensive organisation of both teams and Madrid's clever rotational play. In this article brought to you by FedEx, we take a closer look at the key tactical talking points from the first leg.
Goals
1-0: Vinícius Júnior (36)
With Madrid's first shot of the night, the Brazilian provided the breakthrough in spectacular style, coming inside and unleashing a fierce shot from outside the penalty area for his seventh goal of this Champions League campaign.
The goal capped an eye-catching display from a player who produced more than twice as many take-ons (11) as anyone else on the field. Credit also goes to Eduardo Camavinga, who carried the ball from inside his own half before slipping a pass inside for Vinícius Júnior to do the rest. Of the Madrid team, only Vinícius Júnior carried the ball a greater distance than Camavinga (234m).
1-1: Kevin De Bruyne (67)
The Belgian's second Champions League strike of 2022/23 actually followed one of Madrid's better spells, as City coach Pep Guardiola admitted afterwards, saying: "When we were at our best they scored; when they were at their best we scored."
The goal came when İlkay Gündoğan laid the ball back to De Bruyne, who cracked a magnificent shot into the bottom-right corner of Thibaut Courtois' goal from beyond the D. It was his 14th goal in the Champions League, and seventh from outside the box. Moreover, it extended City's unbeaten run to 21 matches across all competitions.
Player of the Match: Kevin De Bruyne
The Belgian playmaker got the nod from the UEFA match observer, who described him as "the influence that City needed to get a positive result". As well as his fabulous goal, he was the player who produced most open-play crosses – eight in all – with three of them completed.
"Kevin is a massive player for us," said City midfielder Rodri. "We were suffering a bit because they were keeping the ball. With the goal, he gave us the confidence to keep pushing."
In 2020, De Bruyne scored the winner at the Santiago Bernabéu in the round of 16; this time his equaliser leaves City with a platform to build on in the second leg back at a home stadium where they have won all 14 matches played in 2023.
Team formations
Real Madrid
The holders set up in a 4-3-3 formation, with a back four including Antonio Rüdiger (22) who, in the absence of the suspended Éder Militão, started alongside David Alaba (4) at centre-back. The pair would stick close to Erling Haaland with Rüdiger in particular praised by the technical observer for his "excellent job" in limiting the Norwegian's impact.
One interesting tactical detail from the second half was how Luka Modrić (10) or Toni Kroos (8) would drop into the left-back position with Camavinga (12) coming infield. That piece of positional manipulation made it harder for City to press Madrid when the hosts built the play as Modrić and Kroos were now deeper.
Man City
In face of the threat of Vinícius Júnior, it was no surprise to see Kyle Walker (2) return to the City starting XI as one of six changes. England right-back Walker had begun only one Champions League game previously in this campaign but he came in as Guardiola went with the same 11 players who started the key Premier League victory over Arsenal on 26 April. Walker would end the evening having made five clearances – more than any other player on the pitch – and won eight of his ten duels.
City's formation in possession – as illustrated by the graphic above – was a 3-4-3, with centre-back John Stones (5) stepping into midfield alongside Rodri (16) and creating a box centrally; made up of him, Rodri, Gündoğan (17) and De Bruyne (8). This gave them a 4 v 3 centrally and helped them control possession for the first half-hour.
Features
The first feature to focus on is Madrid's attempts to disrupt City's build-up. In Clip 1 we see them in a high block with a 4-1-4-1 formation and, save for the two centre-backs keeping watch on Haaland, they are man-marking across the pitch.
It is worth noting that they do not commit fully to the press until they sense the right opportunity, which comes with Walker's header back towards Rodri. That is the cue for Vinícius Júnior to nip in and steal the ball before flashing over a cross which would have reached Karim Benzema but for Rúben Dias.
The second clip shows that 4-1-4-1 formation once again and more pressing from Madrid: When Jack Grealish gets the ball, he has four players around him. Next we see terrific intensity from Rodrygo who presses Manuel Akanji and, in turn, Rúben Dias, forcing a wayward pass upfield.
The focus shifts now to Madrid's work in a mid-block. In the first clip, it is interesting to see how there is no pressure on Rodri when he has the ball. Instead Madrid's midfield three are watching Gündoğan and De Bruyne, and the moment the ball goes to the former, Federico Valverde steps in to win it back and spark a counterattack.
"I think that we focused on controlling the space between the lines and trying to prevent De Bruyne and Gundögan from exploiting that," said Ancelotti. "They have a lot of touches but the important thing is to close the space between the lines."
In the second clip, the focus shifts to the Madrid centre-backs who stayed tight to Haaland throughout; here Rüdiger produces some muscular defending to thwart the competition's leading scorer before Valverde comes in to pinch the ball. Haaland ended the game with only 21 touches – fewer than any player bar the three Madrid substitutes. "It wasn't easy for him," admitted Guardiola, who noted in his press conference that "the space between Camavinga and [Dani] Carvajal", Madrid's full-backs, was occupied by a midfielder, with both central defenders attentive to Haaland.
Attention now turns to Madrid's out-of-possession efforts in a low block. Against City, if their high block was not successful, they would retreat with the aim of winning the ball and counterattacking and Clip 1 shows Vinícius Júnior drop back and steal the ball off Rúben Dias in a sequence that ends with Los Blancos winning a corner at other end.
To quote the match observer, "Madrid allowed City to have the ball centrally and defended narrow and deep and used Rodrygo and Vinícius to win the ball and start counterattacks." They were determined too and the second clip shows them defending their box with white shirts in close proximity to Haaland, and Rüdiger the man to get his head to De Bruyne's cross.
The UEFA Technical Observers' panel unit looked also at City's work without the ball and their high block is the focus of this sequence above.
If their defensive shape was predominantly 4-4-2, there were regular tweaks with Grealish pushing up too on his side. In the first clip above we see City block the forward options for Madrid and force Alaba to pass back to Courtois with Grealish then jumping on Rüdiger. Further back, the rest of the team are poised to cover with Gündoğan ready to either cover behind him or close down Carvajal out wide.
The second clip shows their 4-4-2 defensive formation more clearly and, within this shape, we see them work hard to limit Madrid's forward passing options, staying compact in the middle and reducing Courtois' short passing options, meaning that he bypasses the press with a longer pass intended for Vinícius Júnior but won by Walker.
Madrid had 13 shots – including blocks – on Tuesday and 12 of them were in the second period when, not coincidentally, they looked to bring Camavinga infield from the left-back slot
To quote midfielder Modrić: "At half-time we had things to correct. The manager wanted us on the ball more and for us to be more creative. That's why we freed Camavinga to push into midfield more often – it went well."
The key to getting Camavinga inside was some clever rotational play and in the first clip of this final video sequence, we see Kroos drop into the left-back role and Modrić out on touchline, allowing Camavinga to step into a central area, the Frenchman receiving a pass between the lines and forcing a foul from Rodri.
In the second clip, Modrić is now the man in the left-back position and he can actually be seen pointing and encouraging Camavinga to step up to occupy space in between the lines. Kroos then drops deep on the left side and Camavinga comes back into the midfield pivot position.
Finally to the last clip, which shows Camavinga in a central area with Modrić replacing him out wide. Guardiola spoke afterwards of Madrid's clever switches of play and here is an example: they have five men in close proximity on their left-hand side but with short passes, and customary composure, they find a way out of the pressure before switching to the other flank.
As the sequence progresses, it leads to a lovely move commenced by Kroos who drops between his centre-backs but then finds space further forward, behind City's first line of press, to play the line-breaking pass. Amid the movement, passing combinations and rotation, there is so nearly a goal to treasure as Carvajal flicks the ball through to Benzema who could well have scored but for a Stones block.
Coaches' assessments
Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid coach: "They had more ball in the first 30 minutes but we weren't worried by this. We were well positioned at the back and waited for the moment to make effective transitions
"We were in control defensively and then in the second half the game was completely different – we had more control we could move the ball well to create opportunities.
"[On Camavinga] Sometimes we try to bring him from the wing as inside he can cause problems, especially in the second half."
Josep Guardiola, Man City coach: "In this type of game you need your best players – Ederson was exceptional, Kyle Walker was exceptional against one of the toughest opponents you can face today worldwide.
"The pockets, the distance between the central defenders and full-backs, was occupied by attacking midfielders – by Modrić, Toni Kroos or Valverde – so there were twin central defenders close to Erling. It was not easy for him."