Leading into Manchester City’s encounter with Real Madrid on Tuesday night, there were numerous subplots to consider.
Will Erling Haaland finally score against Carlo Ancelotti’s side? Tick.
Will Vinicius Junior put in a performance in reply to Rodri winning the Ballon d’Or? Another tick.
However, the shared narrative between both teams this season has been their defensive struggles, and they were on show as Madrid clinched a late 3-2 victory.
The movement of Madrid’s forwards, Jude Bellingham’s overload towards the left side, and City’s smart ideas on the ball all factored into producing an enjoyable game with many chances. But it’s impossible to ignore the defensive fragility, lack of organisation without the ball and poor decision-making from both sides — even when accounting for injuries.
During the periods when City were in control, their 2-3 build-up shape — with their full-backs moving inside — easily played through Madrid’s pressing, and more importantly forced their midfield to be narrow.
City’s main idea on the ball was to drop the winger or the No 10 towards the touchline, forcing Madrid’s full-back and centre-back to react because of the narrow midfield, thereby isolating Haaland against the remaining centre-back.
Here, Phil Foden drops down the right wing to receive the ball from Ruben Dias, dragging Ferland Mendy with him because Bellingham is marking Manuel Akanji. Meanwhile, Kevin De Bruyne moves towards the touchline to distance Raul Asencio from Aurelien Tchouameni and put Haaland in a one-versus-one situation.
Foden then immediately tries to find the isolated Haaland, but his pass isn’t strong enough and it falls closer to Tchouameni.
In another example, Bellingham is forced inside due to Rico Lewis’ narrow position, and this allows Dias to find Foden.
As a result, Mendy is forced to move up the pitch, and De Bruyne attacks the space the left-back has vacated to distance Asencio from Tchouameni. Again, Foden plays the ball to the isolated Haaland…
… but the centre-forward fails to find De Bruyne’s run into the penalty area before Tchouameni intervenes.
City were able to manipulate Madrid’s shape using this move, but poor execution often failed them. The one time it worked, Pep Guardiola’s side scored the opener.
In this example, De Bruyne exchanges positions with Bernardo Silva and drops towards the touchline to receive the ball from Ederson. Rodrygo is inside the pitch due to Josko Gvardiol’s narrow positioning, and this forces Madrid’s right-back, Federico Valverde, to move up towards De Bruyne.
The domino effect is that Tchouameni has to mark Jack Grealish, leaving Asencio isolated against Haaland in a vast amount of space.
De Bruyne then finds Gvardiol’s run, and the left-back dribbles inside the pitch, before finding Haaland.
The manipulation of Tchouameni and Asencio puts them out of position as City attack down the left side. Gvardiol then attacks the space in Madrid’s defence and Grealish finds his run, before the left-back chests the ball down to Haaland, who puts it into the back of the net.
Those underlapping runs from City’s full-backs cut through Madrid’s defensive block on multiple occasions, but the execution frequently undermined the idea.
In this example, De Bruyne’s movement towards the touchline drags Dani Ceballos out of position, and Akanji’s narrow role allows him to attack the space, but Foden doesn’t play the pass.
Here, Foden and Bernardo exchange positions as Akanji’s replacement, Lewis, is in his narrow role. Ceballos and Bellingham correctly switch markers…
… but Mendy and the England midfielder fail to track Lewis’ run into the penalty area. Bernardo then finds City’s right-back with a threaded pass…
… but Lewis’ cutback to Haaland is more of a shot into the striker’s chest rather than a pass.
Madrid didn’t handle City’s narrow full-backs well enough, and the positioning of Lewis and Gvardiol was important in the attack that led to the penalty through which Haaland made it 2-1.
Here, Ceballos is occupied by De Bruyne and Vinicius Jr is nowhere near Lewis. John Stones, Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic combine to find the right-back in space…
… and Lewis quickly plays the ball to Foden to put the winger in a one-versus-one situation against Mendy. Foden dribbles past Madrid’s left-back, but he is brought down by Ceballos to win City a penalty.
City’s defending wasn’t any better — in fact, it was worse. Guardiola’s side were frequently late in their defensive actions and their decision-making was peculiar, which enabled Madrid’s left-side overload.
Early in the match, Bellingham dashes towards the left wing as Vinicius Jr moves inside and pins Dias, but Akanji is late to react…
… and the England midfielder comfortably receives the ball from Ceballos, before dribbling past the City defender.
Bellingham then plays the ball to Vinicius Jr, who nutmegs Dias and finds Kylian Mbappe’s run behind the defence, but the striker’s shot is saved by Ederson
In another example, Dias and Lewis are following Bellingham and Vinicius Jr up the pitch as Mendy plays the ball through City’s block and into Mbappe.
The France forward’s pass to Rodrygo is intercepted by Gvardiol, but Lewis doesn’t recover fast enough considering the ball is in his zone. Meanwhile, Vinicius Jr is sprinting forward…
… and is ahead of the right-back when Gvardiol’s pass deflects off Rodrygo and falls into Bellingham’s path.
Out of position, Dias is merely reacting to the situation and Lewis’ late recovery means that Stones can’t commit to Mbappe as Vinicius Jr’s movement will make it a simple two-versus-one situation.
Bellingham plays the ball to Mbappe, and the attack ends with Valverde connecting with the forward’s cross, but the Uruguayan narrowly misses the target.
City’s mistakes on the ball were exacerbated by errors off it too. In this example, Lewis is aware of Bellingham’s change of direction when Valverde curls the ball into the penalty area…
… but the right-back slows down thinking that Ederson will sweep up. However, the ball is far from the goalkeeper, who fortunately manages to save Bellingham’s shot.
It was fitting that Madrid’s winner came from a mixture of errors from City, which Vinicius Jr and Bellingham capitalised on. In the build-up to the goal, Fran Garcia has replaced Mbappe, but Madrid maintained their left-side overload.
As Asencio is readying to play the long pass, Dias takes a couple of steps towards Garcia, but Stones isn’t in a position to track Bellingham’s movement. Asencio then plays the long ball towards Bellingham…
… who heads it down and Kovacic collects the second ball.
However, a series of mistakes from the City players allows Vinicius Jr to win the ball and put it over Ederson, for Bellingham to score into an empty net.
Regardless of who advances when Madrid and City meet next week at the Bernabeu, improving their performance off the ball is vital if both want to have a realistic chance of reaching the latter stages of the competition.
