2022/23 Champions League: Tactical talking points

This article also appears in the official UEFA Champions League final programme. Get your copy here!

UEFA produces technical reports for each of its club and international competitions. These reports are based on the observations of top-level coaches at the games and insights from a team of performance analysts. They highlight the key tactical trends and innovations from each season as well as providing a comprehensive statistical record, and they are available for free on uefatechnicalreports.com soon after the end of the campaign.

Here are several themes that have caught the attention of the technical observers at Champions League matches this season.

Building blocks

UEFA's match observers saw sides routinely try to play out from the back, often through two central defenders and one central midfielder. A common strategy was for teams to use possession in and around their own penalty box to draw the opposition onto them, inviting pressure and then looking to beat the first line of the press.

Overall, 21 of the 32 clubs participating in the group stage attempted more passing progressions from defence to midfield than from their midfield to the final third. Other clubs like Manchester City had more progression attempts from the middle third to the front and one factor cited by the UEFA Technical Observer panel was that opposition sides tend to drop deeper against them. As they explained, when your opponents fall back in a 5-4-1 or 5-3-2 system, "your build-up is already in the opponents' half of the field".

Sudden impact

One talking point after Real Madrid scored five at Anfield in the last 16 was how they drew the sting from Liverpool's fierce pressing with spells of controlled possession. Carlo Ancelotti's men sought to draw opposition players to one side of the field and then transfer the ball out of that pressure to attack the other side. It helps that Karim Benzema is so strong at holding up the ball as they progress up the pitch. During the first leg in Liverpool, he produced an outstanding pass completion ratio under high pressure of 88.9%, with his young compatriot Eduardo Camavinga ranked second for the visitors with 87%.

The UEFA Technical Observer panel explained: "With players who play one or two touches, it is easier because you can see when to press. But with someone who holds the ball really well, it's difficult. Camavinga goes by players under pressure, which is difficult to defend. You don't have pressure on the ball as he's driving with it so you have to step out – and when you step out to press, another player becomes available."

City centre

Manchester City were impressive in their efforts to build in the centre of the field, with UEFA's observers citing the way they used rotations and passing triangles to create space – such as in the 2-1 home victory over Dortmund in the group stage. The City full-backs that night, João Cancelo and John Stones, moved high and inside as the midfield players around them dropped out wide or into deeper pockets.

On City's efforts to build through the middle, the UEFA Technical Observer panel saw a clear logic. "I always as a coach want to have the ball central because it gives you more options," they said. In City's case, "once they build up from the side, they always want to go inside – they go to Rodri or to Stones or they go with a straight pass to [Erling] Haaland, who will drop it to one of the midfield players, and then they switch to the sides so you create more space and more possibilities to attack opponents."

Out wide

When analysing how Europe's elite progress from the central area into the attacking third, UEFA's technical observers cited Bayern as an example of a team with excellent penetration out wide. In the round of 16, their winning goal at Paris Saint-Germain offered a case in point as one wing-back, Alphonso Davies, supplied a cross for the other, Kingsley Coman, on an evening when they stretched the game against opponents playing in a narrow 4-4-2 formation.

Chelsea, notably in the group stage, were another team whose wing-backs were prominent, and the UEFA Technical Observer panel said the position was more significant than ever. "Most teams will overload the central areas, make sure the ball goes wide and protect the middle area. That means the build-up often goes to the wing-backs and then you have to have the right pass, the right movement – it is quite an important role."