Real Madrid 2-0 Chelsea | Tactical Analysis

Let’s analyse Real Madrid’s win against Chelsea.

Real Madrid

In possession

 We start by looking at Chelsea’s defensive structure in a 5-3-2 with the wing-back on the flank where the ball is jumping to the full-back, while the other wing-back stays in the defensive line.

In the first few minutes we can see some plays where Chilwell and Reece James are far from the full-back but because the line of midfielders is so narrow, they have to play higher.

We see it in this play in which Reece James jumps on Camavinga, with the centre-backs moving wider. In this one is Fofana to cover Vinícius in a duel that cause Chelsea a lot of problems.

In the first 5 minutes, due to Real Madrid losing the ball, Chelsea had 2 dangerous attacking transitions that didn’t end in a goal, with Madrid being more acurate in possession from that moment on.

Another of Chelsea’s problems is in the gaps between the defensive line, as in this play where Koulibaly comes out with Benzema and Valverde attacks the space with Kovacic staying in his position, leaving the uruguayan free.

Exactly the same in this play with a combination between Militao and Valverde, who is not followed by Enzo Fernandez. Meanwhile Koulibaly is on the wing with Rodrygo, having Chelsea a big distance between centre-backs.

Same situation but with Carvajal in possession, Koulibaly covering him and Rodrygo attacking the space running into the box.

With a run from the Brazilian comes the key moment of the game, after 59 minutes, Rodrygo gets behind Cucurella who can’t follow him, Chilwell arrives to help and makes a foul being sent-off.

Another key aspect is Real Madrid switching plays with Carvajal appearing inside. Once again Chelsea are very narrow in midfield being unable to defend the right back.

But Vinícius was the one who made the most of these play, in a duel that as I mentioned before created all sorts of problems to Fofana, being outplayed in almost every 1v1, with the Brazilian having several chances.

Out of possession

Real Madrid out of possession in a 4-4-2, which as in other games has too much distance between the lines, with Enzo Fernandez being able to receive very comfortably, playing a good game on the ball. The other player who makes good use of these spaces is Kanté especially behind the midfielders, although the center backs did a good job, with Militao putting on a show preventing Chelsea from progressing, winning almost all the duels.

Where Chelsea progress more easily is down the right flank with Reece James taking advantage of Camavinga’s poor defensive positioning. For example in this play in which Kroos comes to defend Kanté and Camavinga instead of going to cover the Englishman continues to look at the ball holder, losing the distance to block the cross, Sterling finishes and Courtois makes a great save.

1-0

What Camavinga makes really well defensively is pressing, as in the first goal. He recovers the ball, Kroos switches the play to Carvajal who appears inside, as we saw earlier, and puts a great ball for Vinícius to assist Benzema.

2-0

And the second goal in a corner. Chelsea with 10 men having a serious defensive mistake, which allowed a pass from Kroos to Vinícius inside the box, who left it to Asensio in the edge of the box, showing his great shooting to seal the game for Real Madrid.