Introduction
The Madrid derby, the first leg of the round 16 in the Champions League, was a great showcase of individual talents and beautiful combinations. Rodrygo scored a stunning curling shot in less than four minutes of the game and Alvarez did similar thing to equalise the game. In the second half, Real Madrid regained the lead from a third man combination to penetrate into the box and Díaz finished the attack with another curved shot into the bottom corner.
This article aims to analyse the game, and the importance of individual and group tactics is going to be discussed.
Here is the lineup selected by Ancelotti and Simeone for the derby.
Flourishing Individuals
Before talking about the goal scored by Rodrygo as soon as the game began, let’s clarify how the shape looked like in possession and out of possession. Even though the first goal was scored by Real Madrid, it was Atletico Madrid who controlled the ball first.
The sequence illustrated below is the moment when Llorente found De Paul and he got fouled by Díaz who pressed back, and in terms of Real Madrid, they tweaked the shape into the 4-4-2 as Vinicius stayed high next to Mbappé when defending.
In less than two minutes, it had been seen that De Paul moved away from the central lane and drifted outside to receive the ball twice. Throughout the game, the movement was sometimes towards the gap between the winger and fullback or sometimes between the fullback and centre back. Anyway, he tried to make a movement to the outside to find space to get the ball.
Additionally, this type of movements was performed by Barrios as well. He also often dropped into the gap between Lenglet and Galán who tended to step up forwards to let Lino tuck inside.
Overall, Atletico Madrid tried to utilise the horizontal movements of the defensive midfielders to find the space where Real Madrid cannot press. It could be behind the opposition winger like shown in the illustration, or if the opposition winger was deep, the gap existed in between the opposition winger and striker, like shown below.
In 23rd minutes, Barrios received the ball next to the front two, and he used Griezmann dropping back as a third man to find Galán.
On the other hand, Real Madrid established the possession with having sufficient players in front of the opposition defensive block. Díaz and Tchouaméni, both 8s, often dropped back to receive the ball in the area where Atletico Madrid exploited as well. Especially, Tchouaméni came deep into the space between Asencio and Valverde.
This is similar to what De Paul and Barrios did, and in terms of keeping the possession, this is an effective movement because if the opponent follows, there will be space in the middle. In addition to these 8s, Mbappé also moved around away from the middle to create an overload in wide areas.
The concern about this is the lack of threats in front of the goal as there are more players away from there. However, this won’t be a problem if you have qualities up front, as Rodrygo proved.
The image above replicates where they were when Valverde made the through ball to find Rodrygo in 4th minutes. As you can see, most of players were on the opposite side or in front of the opposition front line, where they couldn’t be direct threats, as the ball had just been switched from the left side.
Of course, the pace of him to run past the opposition left fullback who closed him down too much was the first thing to be mentioned, but after controlling the ball, there were still the opponents who tried to stop him. Against them, without feeling any pressure, he cut inside without dropping the pace and sent the ball into the far corner.
Let’s talk about Alvarez, who curved the ball into the far corner as well. He ran through the channel and received the ball with facing towards the touchline. However, he adjusted his body angle well to face inside, managed to dribble towards the edge of the box and struck the ball, even though Camavinga was about to win the ball.
What can these goals be attributed to? Full credit to the individuals. It is possible to play good football with the structure as a team, but the game can be determined by a single player who can influence on the most crucial stats, the number of goals.
3rd Man Combinations
The second goal came from a third man combination.
In the left side, there was a 3v3 situation in a quite huge area.
As the passing lane to Vinicius was cut off by Simeone, Mendy chose to play to Díaz and made an underlapping run. Then, Díaz attracted De Paula and Simeone, and passed to Vinicius who played to Mendy first time.
Then, as soon as Díaz played to Vinicius, he made a run into the box and received the ball given by Mendy who initially made the underlapping run. After that, it was about his individual skill as he managed to dribble through the opponents in the congested area in the box.
This kind of combination is also instinctive and can solve the situation which cannot be overcome by just tweaking the shape. All three goals are something that is not possible to plan on the board. You could’ve found solutions to establish the possession, but it is all about what the players can do which has the most vital effect on the outcome. In this regard, Real Madrid are one of the best teams to prove it and they’ve shown it in this game.
Individual Skills & Group Tactics
Positional play is all about how to dominate the game and it definitely helps the team to create advantages consistently. Therefore, it is also possible to say that the idea of positional play will help to increase the chance of winning the game. However, we all know that a team who dominates the game can lose against the opponent who had just one shot on target. The most recent example at the moment would be PSG against Liverpool. PSG had 70% of the possession, 27 shots and 10 shots on target while Liverpool just recorded one shot on target. Then, Liverpool won 1-0.
To score goals and to win the game, it is more important to have the individuals who can solve the situation. For example, in a congested area in the final third or penalty area, where the individuals are required to find a tiny gap to dribble through, or in a counterattack situation where a few players need to finish as quick as possible, positional play can provide less.
But what kind of play is the way which the talented individuals can do? In the following sections, the individual scoring patterns and the combinations of two and three players are going to be discussed.
As an individual, like Rodrygo did, the ability of running past the opponents and creating a 1v1 against a goalkeeper is one of the most effective ways to score goals. Obviously, fast attackers have clear advantages against the opponents. Another method is striking a long range shot like Varverde. He’s scored many already in this season and this ability can force the opponents to think about this threat and step up to block the shot, which leaves the space in the defensive block. Finally, the ability to dribble through tiny gaps is also often required to break down the stubborn defensive block. In a congested area, it is extremely difficult to progress the ball towards the goal, but if there’s someone who can manage it, the team will be saved.
In a 2v2 situation, utilising a one-two can help to solve this situation. Especially, a vertical one-two which creates consecutive 2v1s is effective in the final third.
Like the illustration above, the player who plays into the teammate makes a quick run to receive the ball laid off by him, create and exploit another overload. Especially after playing to the teammate forwards, the marker will take his eye off the player who made the split pass, so it becomes easier to shake him off. No matter how compact the defensive block is, if you can find a 2v2, it is exploitable. Last week Napoli found the equaliser from this pattern, and it is analysed in the article below.
In a 3v3 situation, the pattern like how Real Madrid scored the second is crucial and the key is a movement which Mendy made. He made an underlapping movement to provide the depth and without this, the triangle cannot progress towards the goal.
The benefit of the third man combination is that as the ball can be travelled to different angles, it is difficult for the defenders to keep their eyes on the markers. Therefore, the underlapping movement can be ignored like Mendy in the game.
These individual skills and group tactics are important because they can determine the game. The Madrid derby in the first leg of the round 16 in the Champions League showed how important it is. Thank you for reading.
