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© Copyright by Athanasios Terzis 2015
Match analysis: Borussia Dortmund - Bayern
Effectiveness in front of goal proved to be decisive
By Athanasios Terzis
Bundesliga’s clasico ended with Bayern as the winners. Each team tried to
dominate with its own way. Bayern was more effective in front of goal and
managed to score by taking advantage one of the few scoring chances for
both teams during the match. Dortmund didn’t achieve to score the equalizer
despite the fact that during the second half had most of the possession, as
Bayern defended effectively after Lewandowski’s goal.

2.
© Copyright by Athanasios Terzis 2015
1st
half: Dortmund began in high tempo and pressed high, but
Bayern managed to deal with it
Dortmund: The black and yellows started with a 4-2-3-1 formation. However
as they had to deal with a three man defence, their formation during the
defensive phase was more like a lopsided 4-4-2. Klopp knew that Bayern’s
strength is their domination in possession during the matches, so pressing
intensively high up the field seemed the perfect antidote. In order to achieve
this, Klopp placed Kampl in a balanced position between the wing back
Rafinha and the side defender Benatia. By this way he could create (together
with Aub/yang and Reus) a 3 v 3 situation in front, against the 3 Bayern
defenders. On the other hand Blas/wski had a more conservative role, to stay
close to the left wing back Bernat.
At the back Schmelzer had instructions to move in more advanced positions
than Sokratis did on the right. So when Kampl moved to put pressure on
Benatia, Schmelzer moved forward to mark Rafinha.

3.
© Copyright by Athanasios Terzis 2015
This tactical beheviour demanded the good synchronizasion of both players
(Kampl and Schmelzer) as well as the effective dealing with the problems
related to the space that was created behind Schmelzer. Klopp instructed
Sokratis to stay close to the c. defenders (Subotic and Hummels) in order to
create a 3 v 2 situation at the back against the very dangerous forwards
Muller and Lew/wski. Furthermore Borussia tried to force the play towards the
side where Sokratis was positioned as he was the most defensive minded of
the two fullbacks, as well as there was a numerical superiority for the home
side on the right. The problem for Borussia was the positioning of Alonso in
front of the three. He was the free player for Bayern and moved constantly
towards the available passing options in order to receive and move the ball
forward. This aim couldn’t be achieved during the first15 minutes as the
intensive pressing didn’t let time and space for Bayern players to analyse the
tactical situations and make the right decisions. After the first quarter
Guardiola’s team managed overcome the pressure. Dortmund tried to close
Alonso by narrowing the passing lanes towards him, mainly with Aub/yang
and Reus, but Bayern managed to move the ball towards the weak side and
to find time on the ball.

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© Copyright by Athanasios Terzis 2015
Klopp didn’t want to move one of the defensive midfielders Gundogan and
Bender out of position and forward to mark Alonso, in order to avoid creating
space in front of his defence, as Lew/wski is very skillful in playing with his
back turned to goal. So by keeping both central midfielders close to the
defenders he tried to limited the space for the Polish international and block
him.
Bayern: Guardiola started with a 3-5-2 formation which enabled him to
outnumber Borussia at the back and build up from the GK. His intention was
to put pressure on Borussia defenders, force them to use long balls which the
three defenders of Bayern could easily neutralize. For maintaining safety at
the back he kept four defenders back according to the tactical situation. So
when the wing back of the strong side moved forward to put pressure on the
opposing fullback, the weak side’s wing back dropped back close to the three
defenders.

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© Copyright by Athanasios Terzis 2015
When the attacking midfielder moved to put pressure on the fullback and the
wing back of the strong side was in deep position, the weak side’s one didn’t
have to drop very deep.
Finally the positioning of Alonso in front of the defending trio, enabled both
wing backs to move forward at the same time occasionally.

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© Copyright by Athanasios Terzis 2015
However Alonso’s contribution was far more important. In occasions that both
wing backs were high and either Benatia or Dante were forced to shift towards
the side, he dropped between the defenders to ensure numerical superiority
inside the box and thus provided safety.

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© Copyright by Athanasios Terzis 2015
As regards the attacking phase, Bayern players after a hard first quarter
where they found great difficulties in moving the ball forward, they started
reading the tactical context and evaluating the weaknesses of the opposition.
First of all they managed to overcome the intensive pressing by moving the
ball quickly from the left towards the right side.

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© Copyright by Athanasios Terzis 2015
Additionally they found ways to pass the ball either to Alonso or to Lahm and
Schw/ger who dropped occasionally deeper either to receive and turn or to
play as link players and move the ball to the free defender. Next aim was the
exploitation of the space behind Schmelzer. This was done either by Muller
who tried to win the duels against the solid but not so quick Hummels or Lahm
who moved towards this space when the forward wasn’t close enough to take
advantage of it.

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© Copyright by Athanasios Terzis 2015
In cases that Hummels moved at the right time to fill the gap behind
Schmelzer, the defence was stretched and there were gaps between the
defenders. Bayern forwards tried to exploit these gaps and receive a potential
pass behind the defence. The first goal scoring chance was created by this
kind of a pass towards Muller. However Muller failed to find the target after
shooting over Weid/ller.

10.
© Copyright by Athanasios Terzis 2015
Finally Guardiola tried to take advantage of the 2 v 2 situation in the centre of
Borussia defence. This was the part of the field that Klopp tried to secure by
creating a 3 v 2 after putting Sokratis next to Subotic and Hummels and giving
him orders to avoid moving in advanced positions. However Bayern managed
to take advantage of the situation once but Lew/wski after a combination play
with Muller was caught offside. The second time was crucial for the outcome
of the game as in an indirect positive transition for Bayern, Sokratis was a few
yards forward. Despite this fact Hummels decided to follow Lew/wski’s
dropping back and left Subotic in a 1 v 1 situation against Muller. Lew/wski
managed to receive and turn despite Hummel’s attempt to stop him. Then the
former Borussia man found the time to pass to Muller who moved towards the
gap between Sokratis and Subotic. Muller took the shot and Lew/wski with a
header after Weid/ller’s save scored against his former club.

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© Copyright by Athanasios Terzis 2015
Being one goal down Borussia had to react. However despite putting heavy
pressure, they couldn’t create scoring chances until the end of the first half.

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© Copyright by Athanasios Terzis 2015
2nd
half: Pressing and possession for Borussia, good
defensive organization for Bayern
The second half started the way the first half had. Borussia put a lot of effort in
pressing and gave no time on the ball to Bayern players. On the other hand
Gualdiola’s team defended passively and maintained compactness between
the lines. The team restricted the spaces especially in the centre and prevent
Borussia from using combination play within the spaces between the lines.
Additionally in cases that Borussia managed to move the ball to the flanks, the
crosses weren’t made in the first phase and behind the defence, but after the
tall defenders of Bayern took up positions inside the box. The only way for
Borussia to create scoring chances was to find Bayern’s defence unbalanced.
This could be achieved either by winning the ball high after pressing
application or by regaining possession during immediate negative transition
(counter pressing). Finally one another option was to take advantage of the
set pieces. Borussia had two chances to score the equalizer. One after a
quick negative transition where Reus failed to beat Neuer in a duel and one
after a free kick taken by the same player. The substitutes made during the
2nd
half didn’t change things tactically.
Conclusion: Bayern managed to beat Borussia mainly due to the
effectiveness in front of goal. Bayern couldn’t create much during the
attacking phase despite the fact that mainly in the first half they dominated
possession. On the other hand Borussia found many difficulties once again in
breaking through the opposition’s compact defence and struggled to create as
the available spaces were limited. The team spent too much energy in
pressing and counter pressing but this wasn’t enough to score the equalizer.
Dortmund misses Lew/wski or a player like Lew/wski, who is capable in
playing both inside and outside the box and create both in tight spaces as well
as in open play.