UEFA Champions League 2021/22- Sporting Lisbon vs Borussia Dortmund- tactical analysis

Wednesday night saw game week five in the UEFA Champions League, in group C there was an important game in terms of qualification between Sporting Lisbon and Borussia Dortmund. Both teams were on six points going into Wednesday night and with only two games remaining and Ajax had already secured qualification to the knockout stages. Marco Rose’s men came into the game off the back of two humbling defeats to Ajax in the group while Sporting had two strong wins over Besiktas in addition to strong league form in the Liga Primeira. This game would set the winner up for a strong chance of qualification to the last 16. Sporting continued their strong form with a 3-1 win over the Bundesliga side and have secured their qualification, thanks to two Pedro Goncalves strikes and a Pedro Porro header.

This tactical analysis aims to unpick some of the key tactical battles and tactics deployed that lead to the Sporting victory.

Line ups

Sporting stuck to their usual 3-4-3 with Antonio Adnan between the sticks and a back three of Feddal, Coates and Inacio. Matheus Reis and Porro were the wing-backs while Nunes and Palhinha played as a double pivot in central midfield. Leaving Sarabia, Paulinho and Goncalves to make up the front three.

Dortmund was missing a few key players Including Erling Haaland, however still fielded a strong lineup with Kobel in goal and a back four of Meunier, Akanji, Pongracic and Schulz. Axel Witsel and Jude Bellingham were deployed as a double pivot and Reinier were just in front of them in the 10 role, Julian Brandt and Marco Reus were the wide men and Donyal Malen was the sole striker.

Pressing the Dortmund defenders

Sporting managed to really nullify Dortmund in the first half and limited them to very few chances and caused a significant amount of frustration for the German side. Sporting wanted to stop the ball progressing to the Dortmund double pivot and the attackers up the field. This saw them look to press the Dortmund back 4 especially Pongracic and Akanji looking to trigger a press of a sideways pass or backwards pass to them and this would then force Dortmund back which then allowed Sporting to squeeze up the field and turn the ball over. Here we can see Dortmund are in possession with Schulz on the ball, he is about to pass the ball to Pongracic who is facing Schulz. You can see the Sporting front 3 are looking to contain progressive passes to the midfield but Paulinho is ready to trigger the press as the pass is made.