Spain faced France in the UEFA Women’s Nations League final match and were crowned the first-ever UEFA Women’s Nations League champions after beating Les Bleues with a two-goal margin in a game that took place in Estadio La Cartuja in Seville. Spain succeeded in lifting the trophy following their 3-0 win against the Netherlands in the semi-finals, knowing that they also had to deal with a complicated group-stage draw.
In the end, they successfully got 15 points by winning five games and losing once in League A’s group 4, which was probably the most difficult group, as it includes powerful teams like Sweden, Italy and Switzerland.
On the other hand, despite their inability to resist Spain’s dominance in the final, France were also able to beat a tough team like Germany in the semi-finals after succeeding in topping League A’s Group 2, which includes Austria, Norway and Portugal, having secured 16 points with five wins and one draw.
Nevertheless, they were unable to finish this excellent journey with a win since they faced a more formidable opponent in the final, which proved that France need some more work in order to win consistently at the highest level and be able to beat teams like Spain, England, USWNT, Sweden and other teams like Australia who excluded them from the latest World Cup quarter-finals.
In this tactical analysis article, we will aim at exploring how Spain succeeded in scoring two goals and dominating the game against France while making use of the wings mainly. At the same time, the analysis will mainly shed light on France’s poor performance and what went wrong in their attacking tactics.
Line-ups
Montserrat Tomé, Spain’s head coach, started the match according to the 4-3-3 formation with Cata Coll as a goalkeeper, Ona Batlle as a right-back, Irene Paredes and Laia Codina as centre-backs, Real Madrid’s Olga Carmona García as a left-back, Manchester City’s Laia Aleixandri, Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmatí, and Tigres UANL’s Jenni Hermoso as central midfielders, Athenea del Castillo as a right winger, Mariona Caldentey as a left winger and Salma Paralluelo as a striker.
On the other side, Hervé Renard, France’s head coach, opted for the 4-4-2 formation with Juventus’ goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud Magnin, Élisa De Almeida as a right-back, Maëlle Lakrar and Griedge Mbock Bathy as centre-backs, Sakina Karchaoui as a left-back, Grace Geyoro and Amandine Henry as central midfielders, Kadidiatou Diani as a right winger, Selma Bacha as a left winger, Eugénie Le Sommer as an advanced playmaker who transforms into a second striker at times, and Marie-Antoinette Katoto as the team’s striker.
Spain’s convincing performance and use of the wings
Spain were able to dominate the game against France in this final match despite the pressure that comes with such important games, thanks mainly to their recent experiences when it comes to big occasions (the most recent one being the Women’s World Cup final) and to the remarkable chemistry existing between the players despite the change of the head coach.
Spain kept the same usual formation used in the recent past while changing some names, such as starting the match with Aleixandri instead of Alexia Putellas in midfield and Athenea del Castillo instead of Lucía García. In fact, Spain played with the same line-up used against the Netherlands, with Jenni Hermoso played as a central midfield like during the World Cup and Salma Paralluelo used as an agile striker who moves a lot without the ball and provides a lot of depth to—Spain’s attacks as she often creates space for her teammates, especially those coming from behind.
Although she is not a classic striker who serves as a station and uses crosses well, Paralluelo provides an excellent solution when it comes to dealing with through passes from the wings or the middle, and that’s how Spain used her to reach the box and create danger upfront.
This first goal action already highlights Paralluelo’s unorthodox striker movements and how she retreats to provide a backwards passing option to Carmona while leaving all the space inside the box to Bonmatí who was coming from behind to fill Paralluelo’s spot inside the box and finish the action inside France’s net following a very accurate pass from the left-wing.
Credits: RTVE
The extensive use of the left-wing and, to a lesser degree, the right one helped Spain a lot in exploiting France’s defensive weaknesses and in penetrating through those sides in order to reach the box more easily and, therefore, create numerous goalscoring chances during this match. But what was decisive against France was the constant advancement and intelligent attacking positioning of both midfielders Hermoso and Bonmatí, which made a lot of difference during every crossing attempt from either wing.
It is not strange at all for a player like Hermoso, who is naturally a striker, to position herself very well inside the box during crosses while she is being played as a central midfielder. This helps Spain a lot during their attacks since it enables them to have an additional striker constantly who eventually finds herself unmarked. The opposing defence usually does not expect her advancement. In this second goal, we see her positioning herself on the far post and providing a key passing solution to her teammate on the right-wing.
