Serie A 2020/2021: Milan vs Roma – tactical analysis

The last match of Serie A’s fifth week finished with an entertaining 3-3 draw between the first in the league, Milan, and Roma. it was a beautiful game to watch especially for neutral football fans since everything was there during the 90 minutes; goals, chances, cards, referee mistakes, tension and late drama.

And therefore, in this tactical analysis we will carry out an analysis of what happened in this game and explore both teams’ tactics, plans and most influential players as well as explaining what prevented Milan and Roma from getting the precious three points that can serve them later on in the battle for UEFA Champions League qualifying spots.

Lineups

Stefano Pioli chose to start this game with his typical 4-2-3-1 which was very useful for the team since the after-lockdown period. Ciprian Tătărușanu was the goalkeeper since Gianluigi Donnarumma was infected with covid-19, and Simon Kjær constituted the defending duo along with Alessio Romagnoli, while on the right flank Davide Calabria was favoured over Andrea Conti and Theo Hernández played as a left-back.

The midfield was made up of Franck Kessié and Ismaël Bennacer as central midfielders who help in defence and contribute to the attacking phase as well. And ahead of them, Hakan Çalhanoğlu played as an advanced playmaker behind Zlatan Ibrahimović while both Rafael Leão and Alexis Saelemaekers played as wingers.

For Roma, Paulo Fonseca started with his 3-4-2-1 formation which proved successful with the team during the end of last season and in the beginning of the new one. Antonio Mirante was the goalkeeper while Marash Kumbulla, Roger Ibañez, and Gianluca Mancini played as centre-backs.

In midfield, Rick Karsdorp was used as a right-winger, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Jordan Veretout as central midfielders, and Leonardo Spinazzola as a left-back. In front of them, Pedro and Henrikh Mkhitaryan were both playing as attacking midfielders just behind the team’s forward, Edin Džeko.

Milan’s excellent start of the match

Watching this game was like riding a roller coaster for many of these two teams’ fans because it was full of events and tension. Milan started the game in a perfect manner by scoring a goal that surprised Roma’s defence. It was almost an identical goal to the one scored in the Milan-Inter derby.

It all started with Çalhanoğlu’s horizontal pass to Leão which gave him space to dribble and cut inside. In the meanwhile, Saelemaekers positioned himself very well to receive the ball in the centre as you can see in this picture and this confused Roma’s defenders who went to mark him but no one stayed backwards to cover. Therefore, Leão intelligently crossed an accurate ball in the back of defence to Ibrahimović who was faster than his direct marker and scored it.