Sunday night saw the first heavyweight clash of the Serie A 2020/21 season as Juventus hosted Milan at Allianz Stadium in one of the major derbies in Italian football.
The Bianconeri went into this game with just one point from their first three matches, while the Rossoneri have made an excellent start to the season with three wins out of three.
This turned out to be a game of two halves as Juventus were by far the superior side in the first 45 minutes, but Milan’s slightly adjusted approach in the second half gave the visitors the cutting edge to come away with a point.
The following tactical analysis will break down the key playing patterns of both teams, explaining the intricacies of their tactical approach to the game.
Looking at the team lineups, both managers have stuck to what was a familiar tactical set-up for both teams last season.
On paper, Massimiliano Allegri adopted the 4-4-2 formation from Andrea Pirlo, with one of the central midfielders – in this case Adrien Rabiot – taking the place of a wide midfielder. In practice, however, Juventus adjusted their formation to more resemble a 3-5-2, with Rabiot moving more to the center, allowing Alex Sandro to take up a position as a wing-back high and wide on the left flank. This meant that Giorgio Chiellini had to shift to the left-sided center-back position, while Leonardo Bonucci took on the role of libero and Danilo became the right-sided center-back. Juan Cuadrado, on the other hand, pushed up high the right flank and played as a wing-back for most of the game.
As for the positioning of Milan’s backline, Stefano Pioli had a similar idea, although not identical to the one of Allegri’s. Fikayo Tomori had to be used as a substitute right-back, which meant his limited contribution going forward to support Milan’s attack down the right hand side, thus also forming a back three alongside Simon Kjaer and Alessio Romagnoli. Consequently, Theo Hernandez was given plenty of freedom to charge up and down the left flank, playing almost as a winger in support of Rafael Leao, with Alexis Saelemaekers operating on the opposite wing.
Juventus Tactical Plan: Fluid Rotations, Dynamic Movement and Progressive Passing
The way the Bianconeri played in the first half could easily be described as 45 minutes of the best football they have shown so far this season. The home side dismantled Milan’s high press and passive defensive block on many occasions, which was the result of clever player rotations, knowing exactly when to move into space, and were accompanied by a well-timed, progressive passing game. In addition, Juventus’ tactical formation was very flexible and in some cases asymmetrical for long stretches of the game due to the rotations, thus creating many passing angles and therefore confusion in the Milan defense.
In the first sequence of images below, we see Milan applying high pressing, forcing Wojciech Szczesny to play a long diagonal ball to the wing-back Alex Sandro. Once the Brazilian was in control of the ball, the Juventus backline pushed up the field and together with several central midfielders shifted more to the ball side to create an overload. As we can see, the player rotations took place as Cuadrado moved into the center of the midfield, thus becoming a free man and with Morata and Dybala pining the entire Milan backline, there was a huge gap between the defense and the midfield lines. The ball was slipped through to the Colombian, who was then joined by Danilo on the right wing, with the Brazilian full-back occupying the entire right flank on this occasion.
This clever rotation play with direct, progressive passing meant Juventus were quickly in Milan’s final third, with Dybala and Danilo swapping positions.
Below we see another example of Juventus building their play from the back under intense pressure from Milan. In this instance, the Rossoneri applied a man-oriented high press, but due to numerical superiority in central midfield, the Old Lady were able to bypass the blocking lanes after the switch of play.
Player rotations and overload in central midfield once again caused confusion and disorganization in Milan’s pressing traps, which Juventus were able to exploit to their advantage via Danilo and Cuadrado on the right flank.
Consequently, Juventus were able to easily enter the opposition’s final third and had four players in the final phase of the attack, with Milan’s central midfielders slow to track back.
Milan Game Approach: Short Pass Build-Up Through the Middle
Of the two teams, Milan had to be more patient with their possession play, dictated in part by Juventus’ defensive set-up. Out of possession, the Bianconeri often retreated to a 5-3-2 mid to low block with the aim of blocking the central passing channels. This compact style of defending often forced Milan to play the ball out wide, as there was little they could do in the central zones.
In the first image below, we see Milan trying to progress their play down the right hand side, but Juventus were perfectly placed to stop any passes coming through. In such cases, Milan were forced to either play a risky pass and hope it reached the targeted player and try to wriggle their way out of the tight space, or take a less risky option and play the ball back to the center-backs and resume the build-up play.
In other instances, Milan would try to break through the central zones, but once again found themselves surrounded by four or five Juventus players with nowhere to go.
Another good illustration of how Milan were prevented from building play through the central zones is presented below. We see how Juventus’ defensive shape encourages Milan to play outwards instead of inwards, with all the players blocked in the middle.
Thus, one of the center-backs, in this case Romagnoli, is forced to carry the ball forward himself and then play it to Hernandez on the left. Juventus’ compact defensive block made it incredibly difficult for Milan to find any gaps in the central zones.
Shot Map of Both Teams
xG (expected goals): Juventus 1.31 – 0.95 Milan
Result: Juventus 1-1 Milan
