A hard-fought first half saw Real Madrid and Sevilla enter the dressing rooms deadlocked at zeros. Stifling defensive play thwarted both sides’ attacks, forcing Zinedine Zidane and Julen Lopetegui to reconsider their tactics.
In the end, Zidane’s corrections gave his team a better opportunity to win, creating more shots from better positions. Casemiro’s second-half brace secured a 2-1 win for Los Merengues in the 20th round of La Liga play.
In this tactical analysis, we’ll look at Real Madrid’s high press and the role of Casemiro, especially his play in the second half. An analysis of Lopetegui’s will show that, although Sevilla defended well, its attacking tactics were subpar, relying far too heavily on crosses while bypassing opportunities to attack from more central locations.
Lineups
Zidane went with his preferred 1-4-3-3, starting Thibaut Courtois in goal with Dani Carvajal, Éder Militão, Rafael Varane and Marcelo along the backline. His midfield trio consisted of Casemiro, Luka Modrić and Toni Kroos. Rounding out the formation were Lucas Vázquez, Rodrygo and Luka Jović.
Up against his former club, Lopetegui started with a 1-4-1-4-1 before moving to a 1-3-5-2 for the final 15 minutes. Tomás Vaclik got the nod in goal as Jesús Navas, Jules Koundé, Diego Carlos and Sergio Reguilón made up the backline. Nemanja Gudelj started at the pivot with Éver Banega and Fernando just in front of him. Munir El Haddadi and Franco Vázquez started out wide with Luuk de Jong as the lone forward.
