UEFA Nations League 2021/22: France’s individual excellence triumphs over Luis Enrique’s Spain – tactical analysis

The 2021/22 UEFA Nations League final saw 2010 world champions Spain take on reigning world champions France as both teams look to add another feather into their trophy cabinet. 

While France had a disappointing Euros where they massively underperformed expectations and crashed out early into the knockout stages against Switzerland, Spain on the other hand, exceeded a lot of expectations with their young squad and made it to the semi-finals only to lose to the eventual tournament winners Italy. They exacted their revenge by beating them last time around in the semi-finals of the Nations League.

France, on the other hand, beat Belgium after a splendid second-half performance that saw them come from 2-0 behind to beat them 3-2. 

This tactical analysis features the tactics deployed by both the managers and how France managed to beat Spain to clinch their first Nations League title. Let’s begin the analysis.

Lineups

Deschamps made two changes to the lineup that Belgium in the semi-finals. Monaco man Tchouameni came in place of Rabiot and PSG star Kimpembe replaced Bayern Munich’s Lucas Hernandez.

Luis Enrique, on the other hand, also made two changes to the lineup that beat the reigning European champions as Pau Torres made way for Eric Garcia while Manchester City’s Rodri was drafted in to replace Koke.

Spain’s plan for the game

It was assumed with the changes that he made to the lineup that Enrique might go with a 4-2-3-1 system with a Rodri-Busquets double pivot. The move also made sense from a perspective where the presence of Griezemann dropping into the wings means a pivot should be present to mark him while the other would covering the space centrally.