A brilliantly executed plan in both phases: Tactical analysis of Real Madrid 1-3 AC Milan | OneFootball

AC Milan pulled off perhaps the surprise of the night on Tuesday in the Champions League as they ran out 3-1 winners against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Milan took an early lead and it came via a Malick Thiaw header from Christian Pulisic’s near-post corner, but Vinicius Junior won and converted a penalty to level things not long after for the home side.

The Rossoneri then stunned the Bernabeu crowd with two unanswered goals either side of the break. Alvaro Morata as he pounced on a rebound from a Rafael Leao shot just before the break to restore the lead, then Tijjani Reijnders fired in Leao’s assist to put the game to bed.

Both sides missed chances to either make the margin worse Milan’s case or reopen the contest in Real’s, but the end result was 3-1 and a huge three points in the ‘league phase’ of the UCL. Below is a tactical analysis of the game in the Spanish capital, from Rohit Rajeev.

The two teams off the ball

Madrid went for a narrow 4-4-2 with a zonal approach with a mid block.

However, higher up the pitch they used a man-marking approach using cover shadows but not as aggressive as a team like Hansi Flick’s Barcelona or Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen.

This is where it gets interesting. Milan – who played a 4-2-4 zonal approach all season – decided to play a 5-2-3 or a 5-4-1 shape off the ball, using the zonal system but with particular attention to Real’s talisman Vinicius Junior.

Fonseca used Musah as the right wing-back to help Emerson Royal outnumber his compatriot 2v1 in a tactical battle that got very intriguing quickly.

To cancel out central progression of Real Madrid and to win the midfield battle one of the wingers (Rafael Leao or Christian Pulisic) would drop into midfield depending on which side the home side tried to move the ball from and would have numerical superiority.

The three lines of defence did not vertically stretch more than 25 metres, showing a compactness that is very much required when facing forwards of such quality.

Real Madrid in possession

Carlo Ancelotti gave a free playmaking role to Jude Bellingham, and with Kylian Mbappe playing more as a false nine (something Thierry Henry said post match he didn’t like), Bellingham would drift towards the left and later act as a No.9 for flick-ons to Vinicius or cut-backs to Mbappe.

Like a team engaging in relationist principles, Real Madrid would pull the players to one side and then try and play out of the crowd with diagonally placed players.

Milan in possession

Musah’s strength is his energy which is why he would leap forward whenever Milan had the ball. Here we can see how wide he played to stretch the Madrid defence.

Pulisic meanwhile had a free role in the game where he was allowed as a roaming playmaker moving everywhere playing one-twos or sending forward passes quickly.

Vasquez was the weak link of the Madrid defence and Fonseca saved Leao to constantly go at him and engage in 1v1 to trouble him, since he isn’t a natural and seasoned full-back like the injured Dani Carvajal. Sometimes they would do a 2v1 with Theo Hernandez overlapping.

The idea was to verticalise play instantly. Milan would win the ball back and within two/three passes they would get the ball forward, with Leao their most advanced player.

Fluidity in build-up and chance creation

Milan used a 3+2 build-up system but the system itself was very fluid. Milan sometimes looked to exploit the wide areas by having Emerson push forward so Youssouf Fofana would sit back or if the Rossoneri wanted to build up through the centre then Emerson would sit back as the third centre-back.

One big positive was how Milan engaged in wonderful positional play with Pulisic and Musah showing positional awareness while the team played patiently and passed around Madrid.

Morata meanwhile would drop into the centre and form a passing rectangle meaning Milan had superiority in the middle with numbers.

To break out of the Madrid high press, Reijnders would sometimes dribble through and break the lines which was the key starter for the third goal.

Explaining the changes

Ancelotti acted swiftly and brought on Camavinga and Brahim Diaz. This was done because Camavinga was someone who offered more defensive cover than Tchouameni and he wanted to break Milan’s midfield superiority. Diaz was brought in to pin back Theo and not allow him to overlap/underlap Leao.

The game by the 70th minute had broken into transition for Milan. This meant Fonseca had to introduce Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham earlier, as both brought in work rate, plus the midfielder is also a good ball carrier and Pulisic could rest.

Individual brilliance

The second goal was a press well executed by Fofana and the subsequent movement by Pulisic resulted in the goal.

Pulisic’s positioning in this situation where he was placed correctly between 2 Madrid midfielders in this high press situation which then led to Leao’s header was again high IQ football

Reijnders curved run to meet Leao’s cross and the subsequent finish is brilliant.

Set piece analysis

In big games like this it is important that set pieces are made to be counted and Milan did just that, as seen below with the corner and throw-in clips.

To conclude, effort was required from everyone to win this game and that is exactly what Fonseca got. In addition to that, the coach got his plan right and most importantly the players executed it perfectly.

A pat on the back is needed but of course the most important thing is that it does not turn into a false dawn like the derby did. There are also some question marks about if it can be replicated for a game like the Cagliari one, given the impetus being on containing.