UEFA CL 2023 Final: Shadowed Haaland
We can imagine that you have already read tons of articles on this great match, which brought ManCity their first-ever Champions League trophy and marked the third win of this tournament for their coach, Pep Guardiola, after 12 years of failures.
More likely, you are already aware of certain points, such as Jong Stones’ hybrid position, advancing from the right full-back position to midfield when in possession, and the difficulties he faced because of that in the starting 35 minutes. Opposed by Inter Milan’s classic 3-5-2, Guardiola opted for a 3-4-3 with a diamond in midfield in the offensive stage.
Stones had a role as the right central midfielder in possession, not in the double pivot as he was used to in the former 3-2-4-1 structure. This arrangement provided a pure number 10 position for De Bruyne, which is the most comfortable position for the Belgian. As a result, Stones was often cut off from combinational play, as the ball circulated mainly between Rodri and Gundogan. In more advanced positions, it was driven to De Bruyne or the offensive trio, bypassing Stones.
The England NT player performed a huge number of sprints up and down, transforming City’s formation. However, this didn’t prevent him from being isolated from combinations, with only 37 passes registered, the lowest among the defensive block players (Ake – 78, Ruben Dias – 69, Rodri – 65, Akanji – 52). Moreover, only 7 out of the passes made by Stones were addressed forward.
Inter Milan in possession. Stones is a right full-back in City’s 4-2-3-1.
Manchester City in possession: Stones moves to the right central midfielder position, transforming City’s formation to 3-4-3 with a diamond in the middle.
But what remained without a clear explanation is the completely blurred performance of Erling Haaland. This could be overshadowed by the loud praises of Pep’s tactical genius after Rodri’s only goal in the game, with closed space and only 9 shots on target made by both teams. However, Haaland managed to have just a single shot, make only 3 accurate passes, and succeed in only one dribbling attempt. Let’s not forget, we are talking about the CL 2022/2023 best goalscorer with 12 goals scored in the tournament.
Our aim is to analyze why and how Haaland was switched off from the game by Inter Milan, serving as a sort of guide for stopping elite forwards and as an example of a defensive strategy against such players.
First, let’s explore Erling’s best features. He is renowned for his impressive strength, pace, and technical ability. His incredible acceleration and off-the-ball movement bring him to shooting positions that are barely blocked by defenders. Due to the agility of his shots and his ability to convert chances into goals with impeccable accuracy, Haaland may be called a killer forward. He is also a great team player, adept at distributing the ball quickly and accurately.
According to the aforementioned stats of Haaland in the final match, all of his skills were left completely unexploited against Simone Inzaghi’s side.
A vital role in this was played by the central defender Acerbi. He followed Haaland each time the City forward dropped back in search of the ball. The Italian stopper attacked Haaland from behind when he received the ball with his back to Inter’s goal. In some instances, this prevented ManCity from rapid breaks forward, as midfielders like De Bruyne were ready to receive passes from Haaland in open spaces.
It should be stressed that the side central defenders had to carefully monitor the situation and cover the central zone left by Acerbi. Their task was to position themselves not as wide as in the normal arrangement but be ready to seize the horizontal space between them.
Acerbi also didn’t allow Haaland even a trace of freedom in aerial challenges, in which the forward had to participate after City was forced to play long balls under the opponent’s pressure. The Norwegian star lost 5 out of 8 offensive duels and 4 out of 6 against Acerbi.
This demonstrates how effective personal marking can be even in modern times when the fastest defender follows the rival forward and never gives him any space, even fouling if needed.
Thus, Haaland couldn’t fulfill a target man’s functions, which meant that he couldn’t assist teammates from deep positions or find space to drive the ball forward on his own.
What he still could offer to his teammates were fantastic sprints between and behind defenders. However, Inter Milan smartly deprived Manchester City players of this option as well. Not many defenders can compete with Haaland when the forward is bursting towards the goal. That’s why the main counteraction lies in blocking passes to Haaland when he’s on the move.
Inter Milan met this challenge with another tactical adjustment of the defensive block. Whenever any of City’s midfielders received the ball between the lines and was ready to assist Haaland, Acerbi stepped forward from his central position while the other two central defenders moved inside, closing the gate for Erling’s runs and for possible penetrating passes on the sides of Acerbi.
The only goal-scoring moment created for Haaland came in the middle of the first half. A quick ball play found Inter Milan disorganized, as both Darmian and Acerbi were in high positions trying to close down space behind the midfielders. So Haaland had a chance to enable his turbo sprint and open up behind his marker’s back.
Despite his deadly finishing skills, this time Haaland was forced to shoot from a complicated position, and the goalkeeper made the save.
Despite looking simple, these tactical moves of the defensive unit are of great use and also demand fully synchronized actions from all involved players. Otherwise, all the efforts will go in vain. The formation with 3 central defenders, formerly thought to be outdated, still brings unique flexibility and allows for full control of space between the lines. It is also quite an effective method of countering quick and dangerously opening strikers. The match proved that, even in defeat, Inter Milan played one of the world’s best forwards out of the game.