Europa League 2019/20: Wolves vs Sevilla – tactical analysis

Wolverhampton Wanderers faced Sevilla in a highly anticipated quarter-final fixture of the Europa League. With both the English and Spanish sides having a similar standing in their respective leagues, they were expected to be evenly matched. Both teams have also enjoyed a dominant run this season with plenty of exciting football to challenge stronger teams.

The game held in Duisburg, Germany ended in favour of Sevilla who won 0-1 with Wolves heavily criticised for their negative tactics making the game boring for audiences despite being known for their tactical prowess. Sevilla, on the other hand, dominated possession and controlled the tempo from the start but failed to finalise any of the attacks in the final third and left it late to seal a ticket into the semi-finals.

In this tactical analysis, we shall examine how both sides played each other and take a closer analysis of their respective tactics.

Lineups

Wolves: Patricio, Doherty, Boly, Coady, Saiss, Vinagre, Neves, Dendoncker, Moutinho (Neto 71), Traore (Jota 79), Jimenez.

Unused subs: Ruddy, Sondergaard, Kilman, Richards, Buur, Marques, Jordao, Gibbs-White, Campana.

Head Coach: Nuno Esprito Santo

Sevilla: Bounou, Ocampos, Banega, Kounde, Navas, Carlos, Reguilon, Jordan (Vazquez 85), Fernando, En-Nesyri (de Jong 85), Suso (El-Haddadi 89).

Unused subs: Vaclik, Sanchez, Gomez, Munir, Escudero, Torres, Mena, Alonso, Genaro, Perez.

Head Coach: Julen Lopetegui

Wolves lined up in a 5-3-2 zonal-oriented defensive system with Adama Traoré and Raúl Jiménez as the two strikers. Rúben Neves played between João Moutinho and Leander Dendoncker but his usual freedom as a deep-lying playmaker was limited due to the rigid zonal setup.

Sevilla stuck to their standard 4-3-3 positional system with Youssef En-Nesyri as the target man and Lucas Ocampos and Suso playing alongside him. The two wingers inverting allowed the full-backs Navas and Reguilón to overlap and stretch the width. Joan Jordán played in the middle along with Fernando, with Fernando often dropping quite deep to split the centre-backs and build up play. Éver Banega had a free role as the playmaker but dominated the left half-space from a deep position.