Match analysis: Barcelona – Real Madrid

The individual quality proved to be crucial for the game’s outcome

By Michail Tsokaktsidis

Barcelona managed to win the game against Real Madrid, in a match that the teams

had the same tactical aims during the defensive phase.

Match up

The lopsided 4-3-3 of Real Madrid

Ancelotti started with a lopsided but fluid formation that during the defensive phase was

a 4-4-2, while during the attacking one it took the form of a 4-3-3. The player that

determined the shape was Bale. During the defensive phase Isco shifted towards the

left to cover for Ronaldo who didn’t put too much effort when defending. Additionally

Kroos, Modric and Bale also shifted towards the left with Bale dropping deeper and

taking over the role of a right midfielder.

The interesting thing during this phase was the positioning of Ronaldo and Benzema.

The first one took actions mainly on the left, while Benzema in the centre. Ancelotti had

a double aim: a) to strengthen his left side during defending due to Ronaldo’s low

contribution on the left and prevent Barcelona from building up through this side with

Messi and Alves. This forced the home side to start their attacks on the other side with

Mathieu, J.Alba and Neymar and b) as the ball was forced on the left of Barcelona,

Ancelotti wanted to put more pressure with Bale, Modric, Kroos, Carvajal and Pepe

aiming to regain possession and counterattack through the pace of Bale in collaboration

with Ronaldo and Benzema.

Due to the fact that Ronaldo and Benzema didn’t contribute much in defence, when

Mascherano received, Kroos moved forward to put pressure on him, while at the same

time Modric shifted to provide cover and Bale moved towards the centre. The same

thing happened when Pique tried to create numbers up by moving forward with the ball.

In cases that the ball was moved to Messi and Neymar near the side lines, Marcelo and

Carvajal tried to force them towards the centre where there was support from Isco and

Kroos on one side and Modric, Kroos and Bale on the other.

Real worked well and kept Barcelona away from creating scoring chances except for

Iniesta’s occasion (in 3rd minute). However they were one goal down when Mathieu

made the header in a dead ball situation. From then and until the end of first half Real

was the better side as they carried out effectively their tactic plan and not only did they

manage to score the equalizer but also missed chances to score another one.

During the attacking phase Ancelotti wanted his team to attack either during positive

transition (direct or indirect) or through combination play. In order to achieve this

Ronaldo mainly and Benzema tried to exploit the available spaces. Bale made forward

runs on the right and Modric, who was brilliant, provided help either by taking part in

retaining possession or by making the 1st pass. Isco and Marcelo provided support to

Ronaldo by moving on the flank or by converging towards the centre.

This had as a result the scoring of the equalizer in a situation of positive transition

(indirect) after a corner kick from Barca and through a wonderful combination play

between Modric, Benzema and Ronaldo in a third man’s run.

The missed scoring chance from Bale in 43th minute proved to be crucial.

Barcelona

Luis Enrique used his usual 4-3-3. He had a similar to Ancelotti tactical plan as Rakitic

shifted towards the right. Mascherano and Iniesta followed him towards the same side

while Neymar took over the role of the left midfielder. Messi was on the right and Suarez

in the centre.

The main aim was to create a strong side and to prevent Real from building up on the

left through the attacking minded players Marcelo, Ronaldo and Isco. This forced the

ball towards Pepe (who is less technically skilled than Ramos) and Carvachal during the

build up phase.

During the attacking phase Barcelona aimed in building up through a style of play based

on good positioning and not in a style based on combination play, fluidity and switches

in positions. Enrique wanted his players to move the ball to Messi and Neymar who took

up wide positions and then attack through 1 v 1 in order to unbalance Real and then

pass the ball to a free team mate. Iniesta was the only midfielder who made forward

runs behind Real’s defence while Rakitic and Mascherano mainly provided support to

the man in possession. Additionally Alves had difficulties in contributing as Ancelotti’s

players were focused on his side.

2nd Half

The game started in the second half as it was finished in the first. Real dominated

possession and created a scoring chance with Benzema in 49th minute. After a few

minutes there was the moment that determined the game’s fate (56th minute). It is for

sure that formations and strategies are very important during a game, however the

individual quality of a player is an element that in many occasions can determine the

fate of it. Suarez in 56th minute made a wonderful first touch which enabled him to shot

on goal and score in a situation where Real’s defensive line was unbalanced (Pepe’s

positioning was inappropriate). Scoring the second gave Barca confidence and

dominated the game. An important element was Messi’s movements between the lines

(behind Kroos and Modric) where he received several balls and together with Neymar

and Suarez created 3 v 2 or 3 v 3 situations against Pepe and Ramos

Neymar also converged towards the centre by using a 1-2 combination with 3rd man and

provided support to Suarez unbalancing Real.

These movements of Messi and Neymar gave Barca the chance to create scoring

chances.

On the other hand Real failed to react either due to unsynchronized defensive efforts or

due to the fact that Kroos and Modric were out of energy. This was more obvious when

Bale stayed up front in a 4-3-3 formation. So Barcelona managed to dictate the tempo

by passing the ball around or by several successful duels mainly by Messi. All the

substitutes both coaches made had little impact in the game as their aim was just to

replace players and not to change things tactically.

Conclusion

The goal Suarez scored proved to be crucial at this point of the game as Real had

dominated possession. Very important thing was also the fact that Ancelotti’s players

did take advantage of their domination for about half an hour, while on the other hand

Barcelona could have scored more goals during the last minutes of the game.