After Inter Milans 2-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen and Shakhtar Donetsks convincing 4-1 win over Basel, the Italian and Ukrainian teams met in the UEFA Europa League semi-final to contest a spot in the final against Sevilla. This match was the first between the two sides since Inter Milan beat Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 on aggregate in the third round of Champions League qualification back in 2005.
In this tactical analysis, Ill provide an analysis of the tactics used by Antonio Conte and Luís Castro which led to a 5-0 win for Inter Milan.
Line-ups
Inter Milan lined up in their favoured 3-5-2. Samir Handanović played in goal. Alessandro Bastoni, Stefan de Vrij, and Diego Godín played as a back three. Wing-backs Ashley Young and Danilo DAmbrosio flanked a midfield three of Roberto Gagliardini, Marcelo Brozović, and Nicolò Barella. Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martínez played as a front two.
Shakhtar Donetsk lined up in a 4-1-4-1. Andriy Pyatov captained the side in goal. Mykola Matviyenko and Dodô played as full-backs. Davit Khocholava and Serhiy Kryvtsov played as the two centre-backs. Taras Stepanenko played as the holding midfielder behind Marcos Antônio and Alan Patrick, who were flanked by Taison and Marlos. Júnior Moraes played as the lone centre forward.
Inter Milans pressing triggers
When Shakhtar Donetsk had the ball, Inter Milan would stay in their 5-3-2 and not press until the ball was played out wide to Dôdo or Matviyenko. When the ball was played to the right, Young would jump out to press. When the ball was played to the left, Barella would press while DAmbrosio would jump out to ensure Barella was not bypassed. Regarding the centre, Martínez and Lukaku were responsible for pressing Shakhar Donetsks centre-backs, while Inter went man-to-man in the midfield, with Brozović stepping out to mark Stepanenko, who would occasionally drop to become a third centre-back. When the goalkeeper Pyatov was on the ball, he tended to play to the full-backs more often than to the centre-backs. In the diagram pictured below, we can see the responsibilities of the Inter players during Shakhtar Donetsks build-up phase.
We can see Brozović marking Stepanenko, You
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