UEFA Champions League 2020/21: Real Madrid vs Borussia Monchengladbach – tactical analysis

Heading into the final group stage fixtures of the UEFA Champions League, La Liga champions Real Madrid took on Borussia Mönchengladbach knowing that they must beat the Bundesliga side to progress to the next round. Borussia Mönchengladbach knew that a positive result would see them through and even a defeat could still see them reach the next round and that was exactly how it transpired.

In the end, it was relatively light work for the Spanish side as Karim Benzema scored a first half brace of headers to seal a 2-0 victory with very similar goals against the Germans, as will be touched upon later in this analysis.

This tactical analysis provides analysis of both Real Madrid and Borussia Mönchengladbach in their UEFA Champions League group stage fixture. The analysis looks at the tactics of both sides, including how Zinedine Zidane altered his teams usual set-up to offer more intensity and exploit the weaknesses Marco Roses approach.

Line-ups

There had been hopes that Dani Carvajal would return in defence for Real Madrid but Zidane stuck with in-form makeshift right-back Lucas Vázquez. In attack, Rodrygo Goes was given a, perhaps surprising, start alongside Vinícius Júnior and Karim Benzema.

The Germans brought in Marcus Thuram after he was rested against Freiburg at the weekend, with Nico Elvedi also starting in defence as Christoph Kramer returned to his usual holding midfield role.

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