UCL 2024/2025: Niko Kovač’s Borussia Dortmund Counterpress Tactics Vs Lille – Tactical Analysis

Borussia Dortmund ended up coming through their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clash with Lille to earn a place in the quarter-final, where they’ll face off with Barcelona.

After the first leg ended 1-1 at the Bundesliga side’s Signal Iduna Park, BVB had to come from behind at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy home of Ligue 1 Lille in order to make it to the quarter-finals after they conceded an early goal courtesy of Canada international Jonathan David.

However, two second-half goals ensured Niko Kovač’s team would not play their final game of the 2024/25 Champions League campaign in Hauts-de-France.

Dortmund’s counterpressing was a key factor in the German side’s victory on Wednesday evening.

Therefore, our post-match tactical analysis is going to provide a deep dive into that particular aspect of Kovač’s tactics versus Lille.

Lille Vs Dortmund Lineups & Formations

Firstly, let’s run through the way in which both sides set themselves up for Wednesday’s game.

Both teams lined up in a base 4-2-3-1 shape for this contest, though Lille’s shape generally looked like more of a 4-4-2 compared to Dortmund’s during out-of-possession phases.

Highly-rated 23-year-old goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier played between the sticks for Lille behind a backline consisting of right-back Thomas Meunier, right centre-back Bafodé Diakité, left centre-back Alexsandro and left-back Ismaily.

Benjamin André and Ayyoub Bouaddi started at the base of midfield for Lille behind right-winger Rémy Cabella, left-winger Hákon Arnar Haraldsson and ‘10’ Ngalayel Mukau, who played just off Jonathan David in the centre-forward position.

Lille boss Bruno Génésio made five changes to his starting XI during the game.

The first two of Génésio’s substitutions came just after Dortmund took the lead in the 65th minute when Chuba Akpom and Gabriel Gudmundsson replaced Cabella and Ismaily.

Shortly after that, Ayyoub Bouaddi made way for Matias Fernandez-Pardo before Lille made their final two substitutions in the 83rd minute as Osame Sahraoui and André Gomes came on for Hákon Arnar Haraldsson and Ngalayel Mukau, though those changes ultimately failed to turn the result back in Les Dogues’ favour.

As for the visitors, Gregor Kobel was in goal for Dortmund with right-back Waldemar Anton, right centre-back Emre Can, left centre-back Nico Schlotterbeck and left-back Julian Ryerson playing in front of the Swiss stopper.

Marcel Sabitzer and Pascal Groß started at the base of Dortmund’s midfield, with Karim Adeyemi at right wing, Maximilian Beier at left wing, Julian Brandt at ‘10’ and Serhou Guirassy in the centre-forward role.

Like his French counterpart, Kovač also made five substitutions during the game.

Firstly, the 53-year-old introduced Ramy Bensebaini for Waldemar Anton in the 72nd minute before following that up with the introduction of Jamie Gittens in place of Karim Adeyemi seven minutes later.

Dortmund’s final three substitutions occurred in the 86th minute, as Giovanni Reyna, Carney Chukwuemeka and Salih Özcan came on for Maximilian Beier, Julian Brandt and Pascal Groß, respectively, to see out the win for the German giants.

Borussia Dortmund Rest Defence Vs Lille

In order to have consistent, effective counterpressing, a team needs to be well-organised in their possession play with players strategically positioned in such a way that facilitates quick transitions into defensive actions should a turnover occur—this, in other words, is a team’s ‘rest defence’.

We can see Dortmund’s rest-defence shape, which effectively resembled something of a 3-2-5 in figure 1.

In possession, Dortmund’s left-back, Julian Ryerson, pushed up to provide the width for BVB on his wing.

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