AC Milan pulled off maybe the shock of the evening on Tuesday within the Champions League as they ran out 3-1 winners in opposition to Actual Madrid on the Santiago Bernabeu.
Milan took an early lead and it got here by way of a Malick Thiaw header from Christian Pulisic’s near-post nook, however Vinicius Junior gained and transformed a penalty to stage issues not lengthy after for the house aspect.
The Rossoneri then shocked the Bernabeu crowd with two unanswered targets both aspect of the break. Alvaro Morata as he pounced on a rebound from a Rafael Leao shot simply earlier than the break to revive the lead, then Tijjani Reijnders fired in Leao’s help to place the sport to mattress.
Each side missed possibilities to both make the margin worse Milan’s case or reopen the competition in Actual’s, however and an enormous three factors within the ‘league section’ of the UCL. Beneath is a tactical evaluation of the sport within the Spanish capital, from .
The 2 groups off the ball
Madrid went for a slim 4-4-2 with a zonal method with a mid block.
Nonetheless, increased up the pitch they used a man-marking method utilizing cowl shadows however not as aggressive as a workforce like Hansi Flick’s Barcelona or Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen.
That is the place it will get fascinating. Milan – who performed a 4-2-4 zonal method all season – determined to play a 5-2-3 or a 5-4-1 form off the ball, utilizing the zonal system however with explicit consideration to Actual’s talisman Vinicius Junior.
Fonseca used Musah as the proper wing-back to assist Emerson Royal outnumber his compatriot 2v1 in a tactical battle that received very intriguing rapidly.
To cancel out central development of Actual Madrid and to win the midfield battle one of many wingers (Rafael Leao or Christian Pulisic) would drop into midfield relying on which aspect the house aspect tried to maneuver the ball from and would have numerical superiority.
The three traces of defence didn’t vertically stretch greater than 25 metres, displaying a compactness that could be very a lot required when dealing with forwards of such high quality.
Actual Madrid in possession
Carlo Ancelotti gave a free playmaking function to Jude Bellingham, and with Kylian Mbappe taking part in extra as a false 9 (one thing Thierry Henry mentioned publish match he didn’t like), Bellingham would drift in direction of the left and later act as a No.9 for flick-ons to Vinicius or cut-backs to Mbappe.
Like a workforce partaking in relationist ideas, Actual Madrid would pull the gamers to at least one aspect after which try to play out of the group with diagonally positioned gamers.
Milan in possession
Musah’s energy is his power which is why he would leap ahead each time Milan had the ball. Right here we are able to see how broad he performed to stretch the Madrid defence.
Pulisic in the meantime had a free function within the recreation the place he was allowed as a roaming playmaker transferring in every single place taking part in one-twos or sending ahead passes rapidly.
Vasquez was the weak hyperlink of the Madrid defence and Fonseca saved Leao to always go at him and interact in 1v1 to hassle him, since he isn’t a pure and seasoned full-back just like the injured Dani Carvajal. Typically they might do a 2v1 with Theo Hernandez overlapping.
The concept was to verticalise play immediately. Milan would win the ball again and inside two/three passes they might get the ball ahead, with Leao their most superior participant.
Fluidity in build-up and likelihood creation
Milan used a 3+2 build-up system however the system itself was very fluid. Milan typically regarded to use the broad areas by having Emerson push ahead so Youssouf Fofana would sit again or if the Rossoneri wished to construct up by way of the centre then Emerson would sit again because the third centre-back.
One massive optimistic was how Milan engaged in great positional play with Pulisic and Musah displaying positional consciousness whereas the workforce performed patiently and handed round Madrid.
Morata in the meantime would drop into the centre and kind a passing rectangle which means Milan had superiority within the center with numbers.
To interrupt out of the Madrid excessive press, Reijnders would typically dribble by way of and break the traces which was the important thing starter for the third objective.
Explaining the modifications
Ancelotti acted swiftly and introduced on Camavinga and Brahim Diaz. This was achieved as a result of Camavinga was somebody who provided extra defensive cowl than Tchouameni and he wished to interrupt Milan’s midfield superiority. Diaz was introduced in to pin again Theo and never enable him to overlap/underlap Leao.
The sport by the seventieth minute had damaged into transition for Milan. This meant Fonseca needed to introduce Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham earlier, as each introduced in work fee, plus the midfielder can be an excellent ball provider and Pulisic might relaxation.
Particular person brilliance
The second objective was a press properly executed by Fofana and the next motion by Pulisic resulted within the objective.
Pulisic’s positioning on this state of affairs the place he was positioned appropriately between 2 Madrid midfielders on this excessive press state of affairs which then led to Leao’s header was once more excessive IQ soccer
Reijnders curved run to satisfy Leao’s cross and the next end is sensible.
Set piece evaluation
In massive video games like this it is vital that set items are made to be counted and Milan did simply that, as seen beneath with the nook and throw-in clips.
To conclude, effort was required from everybody to win this recreation and that’s precisely what Fonseca received. Along with that, the coach received his plan proper and most significantly the gamers executed it completely.
A pat on the again is required however in fact a very powerful factor is that it doesn’t flip right into a false daybreak just like the derby did. There are about if it may be replicated for a recreation just like the Cagliari one, given the impetus being on containing.