How Real Madrid ‘got out alive’: tactical analysis

Manchester City made it 31 games unbeaten at home in the Champions League, but it meant nothing as Real Madrid dealt Pep Guardiola’s team another knockout blow. The kings of the Champions League did it again, with their own king of the competition, Carlo Ancelotti, at the helm. It really did feel like only Real Madrid could have faced Manchester City’s onslaught and emerged victorious.

After a ding-dong 3-3 in the first leg, taking the lead in the return helped calm any Madrid nerves that may have lingered from last season’s 4-0 pasting. A combination of a hit-and-hope long ball, typical Madrid incision and a touch of fortune saw Rodrygo pinch his team a crucial lead. It was one to which the visitors clung doggedly.

City proceeded to dominate the ball, as Madrid defended deep, with numbers and discipline. It took the home side until the 76th minute for their probing to pay a dividend, when Kevin De Bruyne fired home a deserved equaliser. The Belgian then missed a good chance to put his team in front, as the game headed towards extra-time, penalties and another outstanding result for Ancelotti and Real Madrid. 

How the managers saw it

“Congratulations to Real Madrid – they defended so deep with incredible solidarity,” said Guardiola. “We did everything, defensively and offensively. They made a good goal. There were two, three, four transitions, but it is normal at that level with the quality they have. We played exceptionally in all departments. Unfortunately, we could not win.”

“There was only one way to get out of here alive,” said Ancelotti. “We did well to score early on and then we showed the commitment to defend the lead. We defended well, we had to dig in and fight hard. We could have played better, but the team were defensively superb.”

Below, our UEFA-licensed coaches highlight the key tactical themes from this enthralling Champions League tie…

Real Madrid’s adapted tactics

Ancelotti set Real up in a slightly different shape from the first leg. The team initially looked like a 4-2-3-1, with Vinícius Júnior as a more central presence, threatening in behind Manchester City’s central defenders. This enabled him to connect with teammates on the right much more than in the first leg, with both full-backs and the wide midfielders providing the width around City’s block. Jude Bellingham started as the number 10, but dropped deeper (below) to combine with the centre-backs and double pivot in Toni Kroos and Eduardo Camavinga. They individually dropped out wide to cover the spaces left by the advancing Ferland Mendy and Dani Carvajal.

Real also worked intelligent longer passes into the spaces beyond the City centre-backs, with Bellingham making forward runs to join Vinícius. Fede Valverde operated as a right-winger, with Rodrygo on the left. The visitors looked to draw the City players forward through initial short build-up across the back line, before then spinning balls in behind – as seen in the build-up to their only goal of the night. Carvajal’s ball found Bellingham (below), who combined with Valverde and the much more central Vinícius to cross for Rodrygo at the far post. After the goal, Real converted into a low block for the remainder of the first half.

Akanji as the spare man

As is now familiar, Guardiola set City up to play with a 3-2-4-1 attacking shape from an on-paper 4-3-3. Manuel Akanji moved from central defence into a double pivot alongside Rodri. Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne then attacked as the two number eights, although they were closely followed by Kroos and Camavinga (below) – perhaps partly explaining why Real went with the 4-2-3-1 on the night. Jack Grealish and Phil Foden faced repeated 1v1 battles with the visitors’ aggressively pressing full-backs, leaving Erling Haaland to work on to Nacho as often as possible.

In an attempt to break Madrid’s low block, the wingers started to drop towards the ball and break free from the tight marking of Carvajal and Mendy. The full-backs continued to follow them, however, and Real’s two pivots continued to track De Bruyne and Silva. This left Akanji as the spare man (below); he was often free to receive behind Rodrygo, Bellingham and Vinícius, and link in to the City front line with growing purpose.

Akanji’s movement from the right side of central defence naturally meant he occupied the right side in City’s double pivot. This meant that subsequent attacks on this side of the pitch carried more threat. With defenders concerned by Foden’s dribbling and De Bruyne’s runs, Akanji continued to receive between the lines and penetrate beyond. As Mendy maintained his aggressive jumping out to Foden, De Bruyne became a growing influence as he exploited the space left behind (below). The City left was much quieter, with Carvajal taking a booking on the one occasion when Grealish got the better of him in a 1v1.

Madrid’s extreme low block

City attacked with more purpose on their left side from the start of the second half. Carvajal was still aggressive in his approach to Grealish, but because of his booking he struggled to engage fully after jumping. As a result, City were able to work the ball in behind to find penetrative runs from Silva (below), which created a number of dangerous moments. De Bruyne, Haaland and Foden were all positioned to attack any subsequent crosses from this area, with Akanji now moving across to offer further support.

With City dominating in terms of both possession and territory, Madrid held on with a back six (below). Kroos dropped in to protect Real’s left inside channel, which allowed Mendy to still mark City’s widest attacker on this side. Valverde dropped back on the right, adding further protection around Carvajal, who covered inside-channel access on this side. Camavinga and Bellingham screened just ahead, with Vinícius and Rodrygo acting as the two counter-attacking outlets. The visitors’ commitment to this low block was such that their last shot on target was their goal, which came in the 12th minute.

City piled on the pressure throughout the second half and for most of extra-time. The hosts had a total of 32 shots and 18 corners, and eventually equalised after the introduction of Jérémy Doku for Grealish on the left. Doku offered a much more aggressive threat against the backpedalling Carvajal (below), and it was the Belgian’s cross that provoked the poor clearance from which De Bruyne scored.

The converted back three were positioned extremely high to work against any potential counter-attacks and lock Real deep in their defensive third. De Bruyne missed an excellent chance to win the tie, again from a left-side build-up, but the hosts were unable to find the crucial breakthrough and Madrid emerged victorious from a tense shootout.

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