Fiorentina Vs Real Betis [2-2] UECL Semi-Final 2024/2025: Raffaele Palladino Set-Piece Tactics & Manuel Pellegrini Counter-Attacks – Tactical Analysis

Fiorentina met Real Betis for the UEFA Europa Conference League semi-finals second leg on Thursday.

The game ended with a 2-2 draw, which meant Real Betis qualified for the Europa Conference League final with a final score of 3-4 on aggregate.

Although this result is disappointing for ACF Fiorentina and their fans, keeping their chances until the last minute against a powerful Spanish side like Real Betis means that Fiorentina did not perform badly in either leg.

More importantly, Fiorentina were exceptional and decisive in terms of set-pieces as they scored both goals from set-pieces in this second leg.

This tactical analysis article will mainly cover Fiorentina’s set-piece strategies and their application in this match, based on episodes of some of the most remarkable set-pieces, including the two goals.

The analysis will also include a section studying Real Betis’ effective counterattacking plans and their successful usage in this match.

Fiorentina Vs Real Betis Lineups & Formations

Raffaele Palladino did not change his preferred 3-5-2 formation in this match.

He played both legs using the same formation but with a few changes in terms of participating players from the start.

Fiorentina Vs Real Betis Lineups

Palladino started the match with David de Gea as a goalkeeper and Marin Pongračić, Pietro Comuzzo and Luca Ranieri as centre-backs.

The midfield was composed of Yacine Adli as a defensive midfielder, a useful player who did not start the first leg, Rolando Mandragora and Nicolò Fagioli as central midfielders, Dodô as a right winger as opposed to the first leg during which Palladino preferred to start with Fabiano Parisi, and Robin Gosens as a left winger.

In attack, the team relied on an attacking duo consisting of Moise Kean, who did not participate in the first leg, and Albert Guðmundsson.

During the match, Palladino made five changes to try to turn the tables on Real Betis.

These changes included Lucas Beltrán, Nicolò Zaniolo, Andrea Colpani, Amir Richardson, Fabiano Parisi, and Michael Folorunsho.

On the other hand, Manuel Pellegrini opted for the 4-2-3-1 formation using Fran Vieites as a goalkeeper, Youssouf Sabaly as a right-back, Marc Bartra and Natan as centre-backs, and Ricardo Rodriguez as a left-back.

The midfield duo was Johnny Cardoso and Giovani Lo Celso, while the attack was Antony on the right wing, Pablo Fornals on the left wing, Isco as an advanced playmaker, and Cédric Bakambu as the main striker.

Pellegrini also made six changes, subbing on Héctor Bellerín, Abde Ezzalzouli, Sergi Altimira, Aitor Ruibal, Nobel Mendy, and Pablo García.

Fiorentina Corner Tactics

During this match, Fiorentina showed on more than one occasion that they can be very dangerous during corner kicks, and they confirmed this with their first goal.

Fiorentina Corner Tactics: Plan A

Initially, Fiorentina planned not to play corner kicks directly towards the box but to pass them backwards twice and then aim at crossing them to the far post, where a player would advance at the back of the defensive line to head the ball to the middle of the box.

This was an attempt to confuse Real Betis’ defence and make it unpredictable for them to anticipate the team’s next move during these corners.

Moreover, the plan was good enough if executed correctly.

The following picture shows the empty space left behind Real Betis’ defence, which could have been exploited by one of the players inside the box if the ball reached the far post.

As the first attempt was unsuccessful due to the inaccurate cross, the tactic was changed to alternate the execution plans for other reasons, which will be discussed below.

In fact, for the next corners, Fiorentina focused on crossing directly by the corners specialist, Mandragora, to win time, have more chances to surprise Real Betis’ defence and goalkeeper, and, more importantly, exploit the fact that Real Betis tried to defend man-to-man.

So, to counter this defensive strategy, Fiorentina opted for zonal attacking during corners, simply by regrouping the players who will participate in the action inside the box prior to the execution of the cross to avoid the man-marking.

As the cross is launched, each player runs to a different position, trying to confuse defenders.

The player who will receive the ball tries to anticipate his direct marker, who will, therefore, be already out of time to mark his opponent properly.

Winning those precious seconds without marking prior to the execution of the cross makes things easier for Fiorentina’s players and way more complicated for the defenders, as it is always more complicated to catch a player when he is already on the run.

Fiorentina Corner Tactics: Plan B

In this next corner kick, we can clearly see Fiorentina’s players regrouping almost behind each other near the far post and a bit away from goal, which facilitates their run, which should be towards the near post.

In this case, the cross will usually be directed between the near post and the far post, as that would be the best spot to meet the players running towards the near post.

The first goal was then scored thanks to a similar corner-kick execution.

The only difference was that in the previous example, the ball was saved at the goal line following Comuzzo’s header.

Fiorentina Goalscoring Corner

During the third corner-kick of the match for Fiorentina, Mandragora was capable of putting the adequate accuracy and curve to his cross that went just behind the near post where Gosens was coming from behind and anticipated his direct marker while jumping to execute a header directed to the opposite angle to score Fiorentina’s first goal.

This alternation of corner-kick plans during the match helped Fiorentina exploit Real Betis’ lack of dynamism and slow reactions to Fiorentina players’ movements without the ball inside the penalty area.

That’s why, soon after, Fiorentina did not change this style during the following corner kick, as they believed that this system could work again against this defence.

Fiorentina Second Corner-Kick Goal

Although they were obliged to resist the man-marking defending system imposed by Real Betis’ players this time, Fiorentina succeeded once again in scoring from a direct corner kick.

Gosens was able to score once again, thanks to a powerful header, but the only change this time was that the cross was directed towards the near post, where Gosens advanced and was capable of scoring despite the marking of the two defenders.

It should be added that Fiorentina had numerous other corner-kicks and were very close to scoring them, especially Kean’s header that went inches away from goal.

Regarding free-kicks, nothing special was noted during their free-kick taking, as some of them were not successfully executed, and the rest were directed towards the box in a simple way.

Real Betis Counter-Attacking Efficiency

Another recurrent tactic in this match was Real Betis’ counter-attacking, which was their weapon in winning this confrontation.

Real Betis Counter-Attacking Example

Real Betis used counter-attacking as an attacking approach that proved very efficient in this encounter.

It was mainly based on intercepting the ball as quickly as possible and preferably inside Fiorentina’s own half to surprise them with quick counter-attacks using the wings while their defensive line was not yet reorganised.

During the second half, these counter-attacks relied mainly on players like Antony, Fornals, Bakambu, and Ezzalzouli.

These players were instructed to remain in their opponent’s half and wait to receive passes to start the counterattacks.

This picture shows Antony starting his full-speed run towards the box after he receives a pass from Cardoso.

Both Cardoso and Lo Celso had the mission of intercepting the ball and quickly passing it to the unmarked winger.

The fluidity and rapidity with which Real Betis initiated and finished their counter-attacks in this match were remarkable.

They helped them win space and time against Fiorentina’s defence on numerous occasions.

In particular, Antony and Ezzalzouli were very important in counterattacks as they were very agile and pacy during this game.

The team exploited this in their favour during most of the counterattacks they created.

All in all, Real Betis created six counterattacks, including five shots, for an average of 83.33% counterattacks with shots.

This was one of the games during which Real Betis created a high number of counterattacks compared to their previous matches: zero counterattacks against Espanyol, two counterattacks in the first leg against Fiorentina, four against Real Valladolid, and zero counterattacks against Jagiellonia Białystok.

The only match during which Real Betis created more counterattacks was against Girona, when they made nine counterattacks.

But despite that, they shot four times from nine counterattacks, meaning that the match against Fiorentina represents the first time Real Betis succeeded in converting this high number of counterattacks into a high number of shots.

That said, Real Betis can still work on improving their counter-attacking efficiency further by making the right choices at the right time.

The decision-making of key players in these actions is crucial as it changes the whole situation and outcome of the counterattack.

Real Betis Counter-Attacking Improvements

The following example shows another well-structured counterattack started from defence by Ezzalzouli, who advanced with the ball and played it to the left wing.

Antony showed himself well in most, if not all, of Real Betis’ counter-attacks during this match.

He received an accurate cross and was put in a crucial situation.

As soon as he saw that a defender was starting to disturb him, he aimed at shooting using his right foot while being unbalanced.

The better decision would have been to make a more impactful choice, like passing to one of the two teammates close to him or trying to dribble past the defender marking him before shooting or passing.

That said, we should not undermine Antony’s role in Real Betis’ counterattacks, as he is one of the most important players in this regard.

He usually positions himself well to receive the pass and then tries to make the most impactful decision, whether by running to the box and shooting, passing, or dribbling past a defender when needed.

Real Betis Second Goal Through Counter-Attacking

The second decisive Real Betis goal highlighted Antony’s importance in his team’s counter-attack.

This time, he was the one positioning himself in a perfect spot to receive a pass and immediately pass it back to Ezzalzoule, assisting a goal and helping finish a perfect counterattack inside the net.

Conclusion

Fiorentina should work even harder on diversifying their current set-piece strategies, as they have the potential to become even more dangerous in this regard.

With an excellent set-piece taker like Mandragora, especially when it comes to corners, and a bit more organisation and diversification of their plans, Fiorentina can become one of the most dangerous teams in terms of set-pieces in Serie A at least.

On the other hand, Real Betis Balompié must focus on creating more counterattacks per match.

In this game, they proved that they are capable of becoming very dangerous in this regard and of hurting any defence.

With a low average of 1.57 counterattacks per match, Real Betis must reconsider their attacking plans and prioritise the counterattacking option to benefit from it in the upcoming games.