Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund, Champions League final tactical breakdown

Real Madrid won the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League final adding the 15th European Cup / Champions League trophy in their long history of accolades. The 2–0 final was different than what you would expect from two teams playing the final of the biggest club competition in the world, however in the last 3 years we have seen Real Madrid play like this plenty of times and Dortmund for second year in a row missed a golden opportunity to win a title at the end of the season. But does this mean the final was a tactical failure? Not really, rather it was a very well matched tactical battle ultimately won and lost by the skills of the players to rise up to the occasion and take the chances.

First Half

You must have heard countless times from football commentators and pundits that Real Madrid are very unpredictable, you never know what they are going to do and when. And to a large extent it is very true. However since the departure of Benzema Real Madrid have developed sort of a game style — overload the left, drag the opposition defense to the left, switch the ball to the right to Carvajal or let Vinicius and Rodrygo dribble towards the center while Bellingham will try to be at the center of the box.

While in the other hand Dortmund have been very solid in defense although they have conceded goals in transition. Edin Terzic, the master tactician that he is definitely noted this and used their weakness to their strength.

Dortmund let Real Madrid have the ball most of the times in the first half while they sat in a mid block to reduce the risk of counter attacks during transitions. The plan worked quite well, Real Madrid had a whopping 64.7% possession in the first half compared to Dortmund’s 35.3%. However, Terzic did a bit more, Sancho, Ryerson and Hummels made sure the left side remain solid, Hummels and Ryerson constantly doubled up on Vinicius. Vinicius in most occasions went past Ryerson but couldn’t pass Hummels. Real Madrid also lacked a central presence so despite advancing through the wings, Madrid couldn’t threat Dortmund as can be seen from the heat map of the first half —

Borussia Dortmund were happy to let Real Madrid keep the ball and progress along the flanks

Dortmund created a mid block and kept the middle congested forcing Madrid to go the sides

Another thing to notice from the above image is the position of Camavinga, most of the first half Camavinga played as a pivot as Kroos slotted between the two CBs, Valverde and Bellingham pushed up the field however Dortmund were compact enough to not let Real Madrid play through the middle.

But didn’t Bayern do the same in Bernabeu and Kroos played a world class pass that was finished by Vinicius? Exactly, they did, and not only against Bayern but most teams who sat in a mid block against Real Madrid or pressed high up had to deal with the defense splitting passes of Kroos. Terzic noted that and asked Sabitzer to always press Kroos whenever he is on the ball.

Sabitzer closing down Kroos whenever he is on the ball

This created a big problem for Real Madrid. Kroos has been the engine of this team, he constantly switches the ball to find Carvajal on the right which he did multiple times but since Madrid couldn’t do anything at the center, Carvajal either didn’t find anyone with the crosses or dortmund defended well enough to stop him and since Sabitzer never gave Kroos enough time or space on the ball, the killer passes to Vinicius or Rodrygo never really happened. Dortmund didn’t press always like Manchester City nor did the sit too deep, they triggered the press whenever Kroos or Rudiger was in possession.

However this didn’t only help them stop Real Madrid attacks but since Real Madrid were pushing 5 or even 6 players up at times, Real Madrid’s rest defense didn’t have any shape especially on the right where both Carvajal and Valverde were going high up. The right hand side of Madrid was totally open for Adeyemi to take full advantage helped by Maatsen and Brandt.

As Valverde goes high up the pitch along with Carvajal Real Madrid’s right side was mostly overloaded by Adeyemi and Brandt creating 2v1 against Carvajal

This kind of lethal counter attacks on the break really hurt Real Madrid and probably could have killed the game for Madrid if both Brandt and Adeyemi didn’t miss their chances.

However there was one more glaring weakness in Madrid’s defense, the team didn’t sit in a compact formation like they did against Manchester City, instead the forward 5 players tried to press Dortmund which was uncoordinated and haphazard, this created large gaps between the midfield and defense while the defenders kept a high line. Players like Can or Maatsen who inverted inside into the midfield could easily play defense splitting passes like Kroos towards the forwards Adeyemi , Fullkrug.

Real Madrid tried to press high up unsuccessfully which resulted in big gaps between midfield and defense and easy passes beyond the last defensive line

Once again although these weaknesses of Real Madrid were greatly taken advantage of by Terzic and his team, the lack of lethal finishing didn’t give them any advantage on the scoreboard.

At this point it did seem like Dortmund had done their homework very well and they are impenetrable, however there was one slight weakness. Real Madrid is a left heavy team so while Sancho was very busy defending, on the other flank Adeyemi mostly stayed high up throughout the game, as can be seen from the average position of players —

Average position of players (without subs)

Notice the position of no. 27 Karim Adeyemi and also notice the gap between no. 22 Maatsen and no. 4 Schloterbeck. On the right hand side Real Madrid could do damage and they did try a few times as Valverde, Bellingham and even Vinicius once found space on the right half space —

Vinicius is in space in the right half space

Valverde and Carvajal exploited the gap between Maatsen and Schloterbeck but this also meant Madrid were weaker during transitions like discussed before —

Valverde and Carvajal exploted the gap on the left side of Dortmund defense and Adeyemi didn’t drop back that much

First half was a game of a very measured steps, however it was very clear the Dortmund clearly had the upper hand as whenever Valverde and Carvajal stepped up on the right, Dortmund always exploited the gaps using Adeyemi and Brandt. The solution to this from Ancelotti came in the second half.

Second Half

Ancelotti definitely noticed the weakness in Dortmund defense, in the second half Real Madrid switched players a bit, Valverde mostly stayed deep along side Kroos to cover the runs of Brandt and Adeyemi while Camvinga pushed up with Bellingham and the right hand side was covered by Rodrygo and Carvajal —

In the Second Half Rodrygo stayed wide on the right side instead of playing through the middle

Notice the position of Carvajal, he wasn’t the widest player or the highest player on the right anymore, this made things easier for him to track back Adeyemi and Rodrygo’s quick feet was too good for Maatsen who got beaten in 1v1 multiple times. This simple switch of the positions of few players reduced Dortmund counter attacks —

Carvajal didn’t stay wide but rather inverted inside, Valverde didn’t go high up so he could cover Brandt, Camavinga on the other hand pushed up

Once again notice the position of Carvajal and Valverde and Rodrygo the widest player on the right, this covered the biggest threats of Dortmund from the first half- Adeyemi and Brandt as well as gave Real Madrid an attacking threat on the right which resulted in Carvajal’s first shot on target.

Playing Rodrygo on the wide right kept Maatsen busy which gave space for Carvajal who wasn’t covered that well by Adeyemi

However Real Madrid did another defensive tweak that completely changed the game. Unlike first half where Real Madrid had most of the ball and tried to push players up with a high line, in the second half Real Madrid actually sat deeper and more compact in a 4–4–2 or 5–4–1 formation which reduced Dortmund’s counter attacks considerably, in the second half Real Madrid had 49% possession compared to Dortmund’s 51% (in the first half Real Madrid had 64.7% !)

Real Madrid sat in a compact 4–4–2 mid block in the second half leaving no gaps for Dortmund to exploit.

Once Real Madrid stopped the Dortmund counter attacks, the game opened up with time. Just look at the heat map of first half (left) and second half (right) of Real Madrid —

Real Madrid heat map first half (left) vs second half (right)

Look at how much Real Madrid played in the middle of the opposition third which wasn’t there in the first half because Madrid couldn’t break the Dortmund block. You must be wondering why there’s a large green blob at the center of Dortmund box. I believe it is from the corners that Real Madrid got. And the corner did turn the game as the first goal was scored from a Kroos corner. Every Right hand corner that Real Madrid took yesterday was a near post corner and almost all of them were headed by a Madrid player. Dortmund had several warnings but they couldn’t defend and ultimately one of them was converted by Carvajal. The second goal came from a mistake by Maatsen as Bellingham set up Vinicius to put the final nail in the coffin.

While the game was tactically locked and probably everyone will agree that Dortmund had the better chances to kill the game early on ultimately it showed why Real Madrid and Carlo Ancelotti are perfect fit for each other. Carlo like always found the right solution to the problem and Madrid players like always lived up to the faith of the manager and the fans and did something that Dortmund players despite the perfect tactics couldn’t — score the goals.