UEFA Youth League 2019/20: Red Bull Salzburg vs Olympique Lyon – tactical analysis

On the same day that their senior squad suffered a 3-0 defeat in the semi-final of the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League at the hands of Bundesliga side Bayern Munich, Olympique Lyon’s U19s suffered defeat in the quarter-final of the 2019/20 UEFA Youth League in a thrilling clash with Red Bull Salzburg’s U19s that saw the Austrian side come away with a 4-3 victory.

This was a game in which both sides exhibited a large degree of flexibility in their tactics. Both teams possess wide skill sets and plenty of quality in the technical, physical and mental aspects of the game.

In this tactical analysis piece, we will examine how both Olympique Lyon and Red Bull Salzburg approached this game from a tactical perspective. We will look at how both teams lined up and we will attempt to explain the tactics that both teams predominantly deployed during this contest, and how those respective tactical set-ups influenced this game.

Lineups and formations

Firstly, Bo Svensson lined his Salzburg side up in a 4-diamond-2 shape for this quarter-final clash.

Daniel Antosch started between the sticks for the Austrian side and he played behind a back four featuring Amar Dedić at right-back, Jusuf Gazibegović at left-back and the central defensive pairing of David Affengruber and Bryan Okoh.