Beyond Bellingham: How Ancelotti’s adjustments turned El Clásico in Real Madrid’s favour – tactical analysis

El Clásico never disappoints.

An early goal from İlkay Gündoğan and a strong first-half performance from Barcelona gave the hosts and their fans hope of securing three points against their eternal rivals. Fluid in possession and dangerous in the final third, Barcelona looked as if they would take points off of Real Madrid.

But El Clásico is not without its drama. Jude Bellingham levelled the score with a stunning finish from distance and then silenced the stadium with his stoppage-time winner.

In a match that featured an excellent start from Barcelona and a well-calculated response from Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid, this tactical analysis will look at how Barcelona were able to set the match initiative in the first half and how Real Madrids issues in the high press created problems higher up the pitch. This match was won in the second half, both from the half-time response and Ancelottis substitutions.

Well delve into how Real Madrid were able to wrestle control of the match from Barcelona and show the impact of the substitutions for each team.

Lineups

This was a match with very fluid formations throughout. At times, each side showed a back three; at others, a typical 4-3-3. Lets not forget Ancelottis preferred 4-4-2 with the diamond midfield when his side is playing without a true #9. The systems were little more than numbers in this match as both sides seamlessly adapted to create new attacking opportunities and organise defensively. Since Wyscout lists a 3-5-2/3-4-1-2 for each team, well use those setups as the base formations.

Xavi came into this match with players returning from injuries, most notably Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha, but he leaned on the more in-form players to start the match. Marc-André ter Stegen took his place in goal with a backline of Iñigo Martínez, Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araújo. Alejandro Balde and João Cancelo were the wingbacks, while the midfield consisted of İlkay Gündoğan and Gavi as the pivots and Fermín López in front of them. The two forwards were João Félix and Ferran Torres.

Ancelotti countered with a simil