Real Madrid were looking to keep pace with Barcelona at the top of the La Liga table on Wednesday against Athletic Bilbao.
Xabi Alonso’s side were in desperate need of three points, considering their last three La Liga matches against Rayo Vallecano, Elche, and Girona all ended in draws.
Those draws allowed their rivals, Barcelona, to jump ahead by one point.
After Barcelona’s 3-1 win over Atlético Madrid, Los Blancos could not afford to fall even further behind in the title race.
It’s been an interesting season for Athletic Bilbao, who are sitting in eighth place in the table and have already lost six matches, which matches their entire total from last season.
Real Madrid lost 2-1 at the San Mamés Stadium last season, so they were out for some revenge on Wednesday, which they got in the form of a 3-0 away win.
In this post-match tactical analysis, we will take a look at Real Madrid’s build-up against Athletic Bilbao’s midfield and Bilbao’s use of wide overloads to try to create chances.
Athletic Bilbao Vs Real Madrid Lineups & Formations
Athletic Bilbao Lineup & Formation
For the first time this season, Ernesto Valverde lined Athletic Bilbao up in a 4-1-4-1 formation.
Unai Simón started in net behind Daniel Vivian and Aymeric Laporte as the centre-back pairing.
Adama Boiro started just his second La Liga match at left-back, while Iñigo Lekue lined up at right-back.
Alejandro Rego started as the lone defensive midfielder, with Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta and Mikel Jauregizar ahead of him in central midfield.
Nico Williams started at left midfield, while Álex Berenguer started in his usual spot at right mid.
Gorka Guruzeta started once again up top at striker.
Ernesto Valverde made five substitutions in the match.
In the 46th minute, Jesús Areso came on for Iñigo Lekue, and Unai Gómez came on for Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta.
In the 68th minute, Mikel Vesga came on for Mikel Jauregiza, and Nicolás Serrano came on for Álex Berenguer.
The final substitution came in the 78th minute when Selton Sánchez came on for Nico Williams.
Real Madrid Lineup & Formation
Xabi Alonso lined Real Madrid up in a 4-2-2-2 formation.
Thibaut Courtois occupied his usual spot in goal behind Eder Militão and Antonio Rüdiger as the centre-back pairing.
Álvaro Carreras started at left-back, while Trent Alexander-Arnold started at right-back.
Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga started alongside each other in defensive midfield.
Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham lined up next to each other in more advanced midfield positions.
Vinícius Júnior and Kylian Mbappé started up top together as the two strikers.
Xabi Alonso made five substitutions in the match.
In the 55th minute, Raúl Asencio came on for Trent Alexander-Arnold.
In the 69th minute, Arda Güler came on for Eduardo Camavinga.
In the 78th minute, Alonso made a triple substitution, bringing Rodrygo on for Kylian Mbappe, Gonzalo García on for Eder Militão, and Brahim Díaz on for Vinicius Júnior.
Xabi Alonso Real Madrid Build-Up
Athletic Bilbao came out in a 4-1-4-1, giving Real Madrid a different look than the typical 4-4-2 that I am sure Xabi Alonso prepared for.
Bilbao was playing a very compact midblock with a high line, which is fairly standard for Ernesto Valverde’s side.
Per Markstats, Bilbao have an average defensive action height of 51.1 meters up the pitch, which is by far the highest line in La Liga.
They do this so they can press out of their mid-block and also reduce the space between the lines.
With Real Madrid lining up in a 4-2-2-2, it was clear that Xabi Alonso wanted to attack them right through the middle.
To do that, they used Bellingham and Valverde in the half-space to open up a direct passing lane to Kylian Mbappe.
Nothing comes of this, but you can see just a little drop in by Mbappé creates space in behind for him to play a one-two with Vinícius Júnior.
The other concept that Alonso loves is overload to isolate.
For the first goal, everyone was on the right side of the pitch, which allowed Trent Alexander-Arnold to play a beautiful switch pass to Mbappé, who was isolated in space and burned both defenders for a brilliant goal.
That made it 25 goals in only 20 matches so far this season for Mbappé.
Here is another example of overload to isolate.
Real Madrid commit five players in a deep build-up, but Athletic Bilbao jump into a man-to-man press.
Alexander-Arnold is able to play Valverde in behind, and once he has enough space, he can play a switch pass to Mbappé, who can play it on to Vinícius Júnior.
After a lot of passes, keeping the ball on the left side of the pitch, Bellingham finds Alexander-Arnold streaking down the right side for a cross to Mbappé, who heads it back across goal to Camavinga for the second goal.
One evident thing was that as the match progressed, Real Madrid really wanted to stretch Athletic Bilbao’s midfield.
You can see here that they are clearly trying to create an overload down the left-hand side of the pitch.
Then, when they reached the final third, Vinícius Júnior would tuck inside to the half space to allow Carreras to provide width and make overlapping runs down the flank.
Athletic Bilbao had no answer for how to defend against Real Madrid’s build-up because of all the variations that Xabi Alonso was throwing at them.
The problem with playing such a high line against a team like Real Madrid is that they are one of the few teams in the world with the combination of elite passing range and elite speed in behind.
Leaving your defenders 1-v-1 against Vinícius Júnior and Mbappé is not a strategy that will be sustainable over the long run.
Athletic Bilbao actually ended up forcing nine high turnovers in the match, but Real Madrid had way more success playing direct than Bilbao did creating chances from those high turnovers.
Athletic Bilbao Wide Overloads
Athletic Bilbao were held scoreless on Wednesday, but they were able to overload Real Madrid a couple of times in the wide areas to create chances.
Because Real Madrid got out to an early lead, they didn’t press as often as they have in previous matches.
When they did, Mbappé would typically make a curved run to one side of the keeper and force the ball into wide areas.
The best chance Athletic Bilbao had in the match was when they were able to get a 3-v-3 out wide, and eventually Nico Williams was able to play Álex Berenguer for a point-blank shot that Courtois saved.
Real Madrid were denying any space through the middle, but Bilbao kept trying to force them into wide areas.
You can see here Bilbao trying to create a five-man overload and force Real Madrid out of the middle.
Oftentimes, they would use these overloads to try to switch the play, but ultimately, it didn’t really work.
Bilbao only took nine shots in the match, with a majority of them coming from outside the box.
Valverde’s side attempted 21 crosses into the box, but was only able to complete three of them.
The other concerning stat from the match was that when Bilbao was isolated 1-v-1 out wide, they completed only 33.3% of their take-ons.
Real Madrid sat back in a 4-4-2 for the majority of the match, and Bilbao had no real answer to break them down other than sending in crosses to the box.
Conclusion
It was a dominant win for Real Madrid on the road, in one of Spain’s most challenging environments.
Xabi Alonso had a great tactical plan to expose and take advantage of Athletic Bilbao’s high line, which allowed Real Madrid to cruise to a 3-0 win.
Switching to a 4-2-2-2 allowed Real Madrid to play more vertically against a team that wanted to reduce the space.
By playing more directly to Vinícius Júnior and Mbappé, Real Madrid allowed two of their best players to go 1-v-1, a matchup they are going to win more often than not.
For Athletic Bilbao, it was their seventh loss of the season, keeping them in eighth place.
They were missing a couple of key players, like Iñaki Williams and Oihan Sancet, which undoubtedly affected them, but Real Madrid completely outclassed them.
The win keeps Real Madrid one point behind Barcelona in the title race, but they have a critical Champions League match midweek against Manchester City.
Athletic Bilbao’s schedule only gets more difficult with a trip to Atlético Madrid on Saturday and then defending champions PSG at home in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.
