Real Madrid pressed man-to-man from goal kicks. It makes total sense to do this in this moment. If you give Barca an overload, they have the technical quality to play through. If you set up to force them long, they lack height in attack. So they must play through max pressure.

Further back, Madrid defended in a 4-4-2 shape which often represented a diamond. Barca attacked in their usual 3-2-5 with Koundé low and Balde high with Rashford in the Raphinha role. Arda Güler had a particularly vital role which helped Madrid get pressure on the ball.

Here, Arda tells Huijsen to be aggressive to step out & press Fermín López between the lines. Arda marks de Jong, but his real intention is to press higher against Cubarsí. Tchouaméni tells Arda he can release as he'll lock onto de Jong in midfield. Madrid then go man-to-man…

With Madrid locking on aggressively, they force Barca long, predictably win the aerial duel, come out on top of the second ball, and Mbappé scores in transition (albeit ruled out for offside). If that goal stood, it would have been entirely down to Alonso's mid-to-high press…

Now, let's not get it twisted. Madrid were certainly not bulletproof defensively.. It is very difficult to reliably press with Mbappé and Vinicius in attack. This meant that they spent large periods of the game defending low, but they constantly disrupted Barca's rhythm.

That was partly because of Madrid's defensive idea which did not solely sit deep in open play like it often did under Ancelotti, but also because of the tactical details Alonso implemented in possession. Camavinga starting on the right wing raised eyebrows, but it was genius…

Hansi Flick's Barcelona press in a very particular way. One winger inverts onto the centre back, the ball-side fullback jumps to press the vacated fullback, & they lock on elsewhere. They are one of the most aggressive pressing teams in the game, & they directly scored from it.

However, Alonso had a clear tactical ploy to prevent Madrid from reliably getting pressed. Although Barca locked on aggressively in the aforementioned moment, it was Arda's individual error which led to the goal. Madrid were exceptionally set up to manipulate Flick's press.

Alonso set up in a 4-3-3 shape in the build-up. Camavinga and Vinicius stayed high and wide to pin Barca's fullbacks. With Camavinga and Vinicius pinning Barca's fullbacks into the defensive line, they didn't feel like they could reliably jump to back up the high press.

This gave Madrid a consistent 2v1 in the build-up and Yamal in particular a lot of defensive problems. You can understand where Koundé is coming from. He is terrified of the threat Vinicius possesses, and rightly so. But because he didn't back up the press Yamal was overloaded.

This allowed Madrid to have time and space to play in behind against Barca's high defensive line, but it also consistently created an overload in midfield with one of Barca's midfield 3 jumping out to press the fullback or the centre back (whichever one Yamal wasn't marking).

For example, Yamal jumps to Huijsen, Koundé doesn't back up the press, Fermín jumps to Carreras, and Madrid have a spare man in the middle. This happened a lot in the game. Madrid consistently played around Barca's press OR through the midfield if one of the midfielders jumped.

Barca's issues were further compounded by Camavinga drifting into midfield. Balde didn't want to vacate the left back area with Camavinga coming inside so that on top of one of Barca's midfield 3 jumping to the fullback created so much space for Alonso's team to exploit.

Xabi Alonso deserves all the credit in the world for the win, especially with Mbappé and Vinicius at the top end of the pitch who make it difficult to defend at times. Yet, the combination of tactical nous and individual quality paid dividends. Madrid were the much better team.

@EBL2017 Your missing 1 key element on this game. After Mbappe disallowed goal and the penalty taken away, Xabi switched Bellingham and Camavinga position on the pitch to give to Englishmen a 1v1 with Pedri. Bellingham imposed his physicality on Pedri the rest of the game and neutralized

@EBL2017 No wonder the bookies gave them a higher probability to win ✅

@EBL2017 @YoRhage Excellent submission 👏👏

@EBL2017 Yes, I know xabi is tactically good, but he lacks experience and player management, and it's all showing.

@EBL2017 Barca are weakened man

@EBL2017 Beautiful thread my friend! Top work.

@EBL2017 Well said

@EBL2017 @LexyRMCF Gleefully erudite thread.