Defensively disciplined and dangerous in transition: How Chelsea conquered Real Madrid – tactical analysis

On Wednesday evening, Chelsea hosted Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge in a hotly anticipated semi-final second leg. After a 1-1 draw in the first leg, Chelsea had the advantage of an away goal going into this tie. As it turned out, this away goal didn’t play a part in the result, as Chelsea coasted to a convincing 2-0 win, giving them a 3-1 win overall, and sending them into the Champions League final. Chelsea were so dominant, they registered a 3.45 xG compared to Madrid’s 0.38, despite the visitors enjoying the bulk of possession. The visitors struggled to break down Chelsea’s resolute and compact defensive shape, whilst the blues were a considerable threat on attacking transition all evening.
This tactical analysis breaks down a couple of tactics Thomas Tuchel’s men used to gain the upper hand, giving an analysis on why Real Madrid came up short on the night.

Formations and personnel

Unsurprisingly, Tuchel fielded a 3-4-3, with a back three of Antonio Rudiger, Thiago Silva, and Andreas Christensen. In front of them, sat Ngolo Kante and Jorginho in a double pivot, with Ben Chilwell and Cesar Azpilicueta in the wing-back positions. Whilst the image below shows Mason Mount, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz in a front three with set positions, these three were interchangeable throughout the evening. Their rotations and combinations proved very difficult for Madrids own back three to deal with.

This back three was comprised of Eder Militao, Sergio Ramos, and Nacho Fernandez. Casemiro sat in front of them as a single pivot, with Luka Modric and Toni Kroos in front of him. Ferland Mendy and Vinicius Junior played on either wing, with Eden Hazard and Karim Benzema partnered up front.

Creating space between the lines

Chelsea did a terrific job of stretching Madrid’s defence over the course of the game. One way which they managed to do this was by creating an overload on Casemiro before then drawing the centre-backs out of the back line, and exploiting the space either behind them or either side of them.

We can see an example of this below where Jorginho and Mount are matched up against Modric and Kroos. Casemiro lingers behind in the space between the midfield and defence.