EURO 2020: Gosens cooks Portugal’s goose – Portugal vs Germany – tactical analysis

On Friday, Portugal played Germany in a Group F Euro 2020 fixture. It was Germany who came out on top, bouncing back from their previous loss to France, to beat the Portuguese 4-2. It was an interesting game, where the momentum switched between either side as the game progressed. Germany had an early goal disallowed, due to a handball in the build up from Bayern Munichs Thomas Muller, and it was Portugal that ended up taking the lead, through Cristiano Ronaldo. However, the Germans found themselves ahead at half time, courtesy of own goals from Raphael Guerreiro and Ruben Dias. Portugal weren’t able to recover and swiftly found themselves down 4-1 in the second half, before a consolation goal from Diego Jota rounded up the scoring on the day.

This tactical analysis gives an in-depth analysis of the tactics used by both sides in this fixture.

Line-ups and formations

Portugal fielded a 4-1-4-1 formation, with no personnel changes from their 3-0 win over Hungary, The only difference was with Danilo Pereira being employed as a single pivot in this game, whereas against Hungary he was joined as a double pivot by William Carvalho. 

Similarly, Germany fielded the same line-up as in their 1-0 loss to the French. Most notably, Joshua Kimmich continued in the right-wing back position, as did Serge Gnabry in the centre-forward role. Muller, and Chelseas Kai Havertz played behind him, in slightly more narrow roles than they did in the French game, the impact of which will be explained later on in this analysis.

Portugal’s use of quick breaks

Portugal conceded possession to Germany, taking just a 41.72% share of possession on the day. It was clear from the word go that they intended to hurt the Germans on transition. This won’t be the only time Germany are targeted in this way in this tournament. With a midfield duo of Ilkay Gundogan and Toni Kroos, whilst outstanding ball players, neither are particularly known for their defensive work. With Gosens and Kimmich playing as wing-backs there will be space to hit in behind on the counter against that back three of Antonio Rudiger, Mats Hummels and Mathias Ginter. When you look at the players in this German starting XI, it makes sense to look to hurt them on the break with direct attacking play. 

Portugal managed just seven shots in total over the course of the game, and yet three of these came from counter-attacks. With an overall 1.96xG for the game, we can see that just over half of this value came from their counter-attacks. These came overwhelmingly through the centre of the pitch, with Cristiano Ronaldo the focal point of the attacks.