UEFA Champions League 2019/20: Juventus vs Bayer Leverkusen – Tactical Analysis

The Champions League has returned with its second matchday of the group stage. The first series of matches took place on Tuesday evening and it ended up with many interesting results. And one of the mouth-watering matches that caught the eyes of many fans was between Serie A champion Juventus and German club Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Both Juventus and Leverkusen were still looking for their first three points of the competition. But the Italian side secured a more positive result against a tougher opponent in Atlético Madrid with a 2-2 draw, while Leverkusen fell short when they welcomed Lokomotiv Moscow. Ultimately, three goals from Gonzalo Higuaín, Cristiano Ronaldo and Federico Bernardeschi brought Maurizio Sarri’s side their first win to help them moved top of their group.

This tactical analysis will provide an analysis of Juventus’ 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen. Meanwhile, using statistics, we will point out what went wrong for Peter Bosz’s tactics over Maurizio Sarri’s tactics.

Lineups

The former Chelsea manager opted to go for a 4-3-1-2 formation for their match that they welcomed Leverkusen. With both defenders Giorgio Chiellini and Mattia De Sciglio remained on the sidelines for an extended period, Sarri went for two familiar faces in Leonardo Bonucci and Juan Cuadrado.

Emre Can and Mario Mandžukić were left out of Juventus’ squad at the start of the season, and therefore, became ineligible for the match. Still, Sarri was left with the choice between Aaron Ramsey, Sami Khedira and Blaise Matuidi for the central midfielders spot alongside Miralem Pjanić. Furthermore, he also went for the option of pairing Gonzalo Higuaín with Cristiano Ronaldo up front as Paulo Dybala was on the bench.

On the other hand, Bosz felt like the 4-1-2-3 formation would be a perfect fit for Leverkusen in this match. Leon Bailey was surely absented from the match due to his muscle injury as captain Kevin Volland filled in his left-winger position. Another winger also missed out from the match was Karim Bellarabi due to his illness.

At the heart of Leverkusen’s defence, Sven Bender paired up alongside Jonathan Tah while his twin brother Lars Bender wasn’t registered for their trip to Italy through a thigh injury. Nonetheless, Bosz still had two decent centre-backs in Aleksandar Dragović and Panagiotis Retsos on the bench, alongside three new signings in Nadiem Amiri, Daley Sinkgraven and Moussa Diaby.

Leverkusens style of play

Quite different from what they intended to line up at the start of the game, Leverkusen employed a 4-2-3-1 defensive shape when they were out of possession. They tended to raise their shape high up the pitch and positioned itself inside the middle third. Their aim was to create an overload in that area and forced Juventus to circulate the ball in their half during most of the time.

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