Tactics in focus: Athletic press high as Real Madrid take advantage

It has been awhile since our latest tactical analysis, but that’s something which will be changing from now until the end of the season. We welcome new man Jonny Mullins on board, from the hugely impressive Lankyguy Blog. For his first assignment, Jonny looked at the intriguing battle between Real Madrid and Athletic from Sunday evening at the Bernabéu.

This victory was a much-needed confidence booster for Real Madrid ahead of the second leg of their Copa Del Rey quarter final against Barcelona on Wednesday.

Madrid started in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Esteban Granero given a start in midfield and Raphael Varane alongside Sergio Ramos in central defence.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side started in a 4-3-3 shape with Fernando Llorente leading the line up front.

1st Half

The build up of both teams was focussed on circulating the ball well in deep positions and in midfield, with short passing combinations being used by Athletic early on. Both teams were also pressing high up after losing the ball and were notably positioned high from goal kicks.

Athletic took the lead through a quick counter attack after a Real Madrid corner. Javi Martínez’s overlapping run from defence to the right was well timed as Ander Herrera found space to run at Madrid’s backline and was allowed to move the ball quickly over to Martínez, who put a well directed ball in for Llorente who had made good run between defenders.

Athletic were committing a number of players forward from midfield to attack, particularly when the ball was at the feet of the full backs, where it gave the opportunity for the central players to make penetrative vertical runs forward for the pass from wide. Madrid had problems with this at points, with a lack of intensity in pressuring and the movement of Athletic’s attacking players between defenders.

One of Athletic’s best chances to make it 2-0 came from this, with two players getting between defenders on the counter attack and Llorente eventually peeling off to the far post where he should have scored.

Óscar De Marcos was the highest player in midfield for Athletic and was frequently making runs between Varane and Álvaro Arbeloa, though timing them badly and he was caught offside a total of three times in the first half.

Athletic were also finding space between and behind Madrid’s two holding players and were creating and exploiting it well. Their wide players, Muniain and Susaeta, were both moving inside at points when the ball was deep and trying to attract the tracking of one of Madrid’s holding players into wider positions to open space up between them for penetrative forward passes to Llorente.

Real Madrid’s main strategy was moving the ball around deep in defence in the first stages of possession and trying to entice Athletic’s midfielders to track in high positions so that space could be created between the lines or behind the defence. Both Alonso and Granero came deep in the first phases of possession where the ball generally went to their full backs or holding midfielders facing the play.  This allowed them to play passes into the feet of Ozil and Kaká around Iturraspe. In fact Ozil himself came deep a couple of times which gave Kaka extra space to exploit between the lines. Both of these players and Ronaldo were interchanging and linking up in the centre and Granero was also moving forward when the ball was being held by one of the four attacking players.

Madrid’s equaliser came from good movement by both Kaká and Ronaldo moving to the left and creating space with their off the ball movement which Marcelo exploited down the centre by linking up quickly with Benzema to make it 1-1.

The game was still fairly even at this stage and neither side were asserting their control over it with both guilty of a lack of intensity in pressuring at points and both finding space around the holding midfielders to open up the defence.

2nd half

Madrid immediately gained quick momentum in the second half by winning a penalty without Athletic getting a touch of the ball. Madrid kicked off and moved the ball quickly forward with players moving wide, creating space to penetrate down the centre. Ozil received the ball with his back to goal and was able to turn Amorebieta at left back because of his lower centre of gravity and quick control and turn of direction. Play was switched to the left and Marcelo fed in Ronaldo who played it first time into the quick and clever turn from Kaká who won the penalty. Ronaldo converted it.

Ozil on the right hand side was increasingly finding joy against Amorebieta because of the makeshift left back’s lack of mobility and he was frequently allowed to turn inside and link up with Kaká.

Athletic were still passing the ball well and stretching the space for Madrid to defend, with Herrera switching the play well in midfield and the full backs moving high, whilst the centre backs split fairly wide in possession. Madrid’s defensive line became deeper in order to shut out the space behind that had been a problem in the first half, even though they still made mistakes with covering spaces around their holding midfielders.

They got their third goal from a goal kick where the away side were positioned high up from. Madrid moved the ball quickly forward and took advantage of the space left in the defence and Ozil won a penalty from which De Marcos was sent off. Ronaldo bagged his brace from the spot.

At this point Madrid started to find more space between the lines with Athletic still pressuring high up even though they were down to ten men. Alonso was generally the deeper of the midfielders and his passing and quick awareness was helping to exploit space as well as Arbeloa’s high overlaps on the right.

Madrid had good width high and were moving the ball around with more ease, creating a couple of good chances and generally controlling the game.

The fourth goal came when Athletic were committing players forward on the attack. When they lost it, Ozil took the ball out of defence with five Athletic players now out of the defensive unit. Some bad pressuring both in intensity and angle (which showed Ozil inside) allowed Ozil to make a penetrating central pass and Higuaín played a nice diagonal ball behind for Callejón, who finished it off superbly.

(The position just before the fourth Madrid goal. As Ozil takes the ball out of defence, five Athletic  players are behind the German)

Overall, a good win for Madrid, who will be pleased with the result, albeit with a performance that probably didn’t deserve a 4-1 victory.

You can see more of Jonny’s work at his own NOPA award winning blog Lankyguy, and if you wish to follow him on Twitter you can do so here.

Tags: Athletic, Bielsa, Cristiano Ronaldo, Javi Martinez, La Liga, Muniain, Real Madrid, Tactics