Real Madrid’s victory at Chelsea came as a result of four main tactical axes

“Even by football-mad standards, (Real) Real Madrid are in a class of their own,” Carlo Ancelotti wrote in his autobiography Quiet Driving.

By beating Chelsea on both legs, he led the man who led Real Madrid to “La Decima” (their tenth European Cup title) in 2014, to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the 11th time in 13 seasons. In that time, they have won the cup on five occasions and can retain it for the third time in June.

There were four major tactical themes to their victory on Tuesday night:

From the start of the match, it was clear that right-back Reece James had no interest in Vinicius Jr’s position. This looked risky, particularly after the first leg in Madrid, as Chelsea’s interim coach Frank Lampard explained that the Brazilian was “partly the reason” for playing with five backs, as “one against one, (it’s) a big problem for any” team, So we wanted to create two against one on this side of the field.”

Instead, James pressed left-back Eduardo Camavinga, a midfielder nominally but a left-footed player who Ancelotti played a lot in that role – something the France international “doesn’t like” but “playing as a full-back now will do” has him learning some defensive things that will help him in future,” Ancelotti said.

This required right centre-back Fofana (6 ft 1 in; 186 cm) to track Vinicius Junior, who would routinely drop deep to pull the Chelsea player up high and then look to run into space behind him.

The Real Madrid crowd wasn’t perfect in the first half, but more importantly, they made a few mistakes.

While Chelsea looked to stop Real Madrid’s left side building up at the source, the visitors shifted play to the right. Here, Camavinga finds right-back Dani Carvajal, who nearly dribbled past the halfway line before being fouled by Conor Gallagher.

To find Vinicius Junior, Real played more diagonals from deep, with right centre-back Eder Militao often getting past James.

Here, the wing-back recovers but doesn’t slow down in time and Vinicius Junior gets past him…

…but it increases the cross into the back post.

These dribbles continued throughout the first half, but Vinicius Jr.’s final ball lacked quality.

Madrid’s biggest strength is how versatile the attacking squad is, even if they are (wrongly) not rated as the most tactically accurate side in Europe.

The positioning – or lack thereof – of Rodrigo’s right flank proved pivotal. He hugged a lot on the touchline to extend play, but he also ran across the left wing and combined with Benzema and Vinicius Jr.

Here, he starts central (away from goal) as Luka Modric’s position attracts Gallagher’s pressure…

… Descend into space to receive and prepare for Carvajal.

The dominoes fell as Chelsea wing-back Marc Cucurella then had to jump to put pressure on Carvajal, and Mateo Kovacic went hard for Rodrygo, allowing Modric to make a third man’s run and receive to slip past Rodrygo – but his cross ends up being blocked. .

Without possession, Real had some problems defending against Chelsea’s midfield.

Kante and Gallagher were Chelsea’s No. 10, playing ahead of defensive midfielders Enzo Fernandes and Kovacic (all wearing yellow points below), a midfield that Lampard described as “great energy. Great organisation”.

Kante has often sought runs between Camavinga and David Alaba (left centre-back). Gallagher performed these duties as well, but Carvajal defended them better.

Here Kante’s cross fell – only five of Chelsea’s 28 crosses were touched by his teammate – and Real managed to break through, as Vinicius Jr. found Modric running forward.

“I think we suffered (because of) Kante’s position; Camavinga was used to put pressure on James and we had difficulty controlling Kante,” Ancelotti said.

“In the second half I put Valverde on the left to control the position and we were much better there.”

Valverde’s first action in the second half was to intercept Cucurella’s inbound pass to Kante. Look at Gallagher’s track, too.

The two Real Madrid goals neatly encapsulate these tactical issues.

At the start, they play from left to right from a throw-in, with Benzema deep, James pressing, and passes to Militao.

Despite all their work in the first half manipulating Chelsea’s right flank to find Vinicius Jr on the left, the goal came on the right. Cucurella presses Militao, and the Brazilian passes around him to Rodrigo…

…with matter clearer than this tactical camera. This makes Trevuh Chalobah the closest defender – he is in the center circle while playing the pass.

The 23-year-old shows incredible speed in the crossing but is milliseconds late in his challenge, passing Rodrigo.

Rodrygo’s cut goes to Vinicius Jr – Benzema threw himself at it but couldn’t quite get to it – and took it back to capitalize on it. Real has only three players in the Chelsea center, compared to six defenders, and shows the composure of Lampard’s men.

Benzema should have doubled his lead after less than 10 minutes, again deep into the starting action.

Valverde’s slight movement on the inside opens the pass from Toni Kroos to Rodrygo.

Then Rodrygo, Valverde and Benzema combine perfectly. Valverde is run inside Cucurella by Rodrigo, who recovers the ball from Benzema.

Rodrigo turns into Vinicius Jr. and then decides to overlap him…

… and after Vinicius Jr. dribbled his way into the penalty area, he was tackled. Rodrigo plays cutback with Benzema, but he shoots straight at Kepa Arrizabalaga.

then sr an act MAKE IT 2-0 – A 27-pass move that lasts 72 seconds. Ancelotti described both goals as a “fantastic combination”.

There have only been two goals longer in the Champions League this season, one of which was Eden Hazard for Real Madrid at Celtic in the group stages (33 assists; 97 seconds).

Once again Rodrygo on the left side after merging with Vinicius Junior defender Thiago Silva, he came out to rule Rodrygo, vacating space at the back, which former Chelsea center back Antonio Rudiger (as a substitute for Alaba) took advantage of.

The pass appeared to be intended for Dani Ceballos, a second-half substitute for Kroos, who made the attacking midfielder the last of his passes. But he allowed her to run for Vinicius Jr., who entered behind the tired Fofana.

He pulled it back for the unmarked Valverde, who dribbled past Michailo Modric and Silva, leaving the former on the ground, before slotting it back to Rodrygo.

There’s a consensus that Real Madrid never play to their full potential – buoyed by the seniority of some of their key players, perhaps – but they probably don’t need to. They adapt silently and cleverly in games to dominate opponents.

“We try,” was Ancelotti’s response as his club won its 15th European title.

The most decorated team and the most decorated manager in the competition do their best.