A tactical breakdown of the UCL final: Tuchel’s class on how to outclass Pep

Nobody beats Pep twice without getting battered a third time, especially when he is managing a billion-dollar side to a quadruple. But Tuchel did. And he did it in a UCL final. Chelsea dominated the final from start to finish, reducing the best team in the Premier League to random crosses and hopeless dribbles. With an Expected Goal Statistic of 1.25 to City’s 0.57, Tuchel’s Chelsea gave a performance that some might call the greatest in a UCL final.

The set-up

Manchester City set-up with a 4-1-4-1 formation, with De Bruyne playing as a center forward, and Mahrez and Sterling playing wide. Perhaps this is where Pep made his first mistake. 

The holding midfielder he started was Gundogan. Gundogan has played at the CAM position throughout the season, while one of Rodri or Fernandinho has occupied the CDM position. While attacking, City converted to a 3-4-3, with Zinchenko playing as an additional midfielder, and Walker dropping in as RCB to cover Werner’s runs. 

As an overall, Man City came with a very attacking mindset, pressing extremely high up the pitch and seeking to overload the Chelsea block.

Chelsea, on the other hand, knew that controlling the possession against City’s pressing would be a futile attempt, so the team lined up in a compact defensive manner. The starting formation was 3-4-3, although it quickly shifted to a 5-3-2 in order to deal with City’s attack. 

Werner and Havertz led the attack with Mount playing a playmaker role behind them, while Kante aimed to break the press by intercepting passes and blocking runs. Reece James and Azplicueta shifted in and out of the RCB and RWB positions, with James exclusively focusing on Sterling. 

Chilwell covered the left side, neutralizing Mahrez. Chelsea sat back throughout the game, creating a compact block with literally no space to run into and no lane to pass into.

The game

Throughout the match, Chelsea successfully kept their shape and practically nullified all of Man City’s attacking abilities. De Bruyne, Foden and Gundogan were not able to create any clear-cut chances. 

The wings were also blocked, Sterling failed to get himself into a decent position as James made no mistake in tracking him, while Mahrez was kept in constant check by Chilwell. It needs to be recognized that City created at least two half-chances, but both were effectively defended against and cleared by Rudiger and Azplicueta respectively. 

Chelsea looked to score on the counter, exploiting a lack of a DM and creating many 1 vs 1 chances by lobbing the ball to Havertz or Werner.

The goal

There was only one goal in the game, and its breakdown should explain everything that Chelsea did right and Man City did wrong throughout the match.

The Chelsea goalkeeper, Mendy, played a pass to the left to Chilwell. This is possible because Mahrez is already pressing Rudiger, and leaves a lot of space to receive the ball. As the ball is played, Walker, the RCB, comes to cover Chilwell, but that leaves Mason Mount free. This is the crucial moment in the buildup: Mount should never have been free. Had Pep started a DM, he would have read the situation and covered Mount, or block the passing lane. 

Since Gundogan is an aggressive player, he did not read the situation and was on the opposite side of the pitch when this was happening. Chilwell taps the ball to Mount, who turns and plays an exquisite ball to Havertz. Here, John Stones is out of position as he tries to press Mount, while Werner makes a decoy run, pulling Dias to the right, effectively leaving acres of space for Havertz to run into. 

A second City mistake happens here, which is an individual mistake. Zinchenko should have been covering the goal-side of Havertz, but instead he was standing behind him. Havertz uses all his pace, goes around the keeper, and scores.

Conclusion

While the previous two games between these clubs were excellent tactical spectacles, the UCL final was a tactical dominance by Tuchel’s Chelsea. I for one have never seen this Man City side, get shut out of the box like this, and while Pep is to blame, perhaps there was no way to break the Chelsea block at all.

Ahmad Bin Tahir is a Lahore based sports analyst, with multiple analytical pieces published on football. He is a student and can be reached on [email protected]