Match date: 10 Match 2015

Real Madrid took a 2-0 lead in the tie, with Ronaldo and Marcelo scoring a goal a piece against Schalke at the Veltins-Arena. Real were not at their best that day, but they forced Schalke to play very defensive with both Huntelaar and Choupo-Moting very isolated when Schalke were on the attack.

Real Madrid and Carlo Ancelotti have been widely criticised for their performances lately , but the Italian stuck with what is arguably his first choice starting XI, with injuries aside, as Ronaldo, Bale, and Benzema all started up top with Isco, Kroos, and Khedira behind him. Marcelo was dropped to the bench, however, with Fabio Coentrão in.

Di Matteo made three changes to the side that lost in the first leg, bringing Max Meyer into midfield for Boateng, Fuchs in for Aogo, and Barnetta in for Uchida, with the latter two brought in as wing backs in Schalke’s 3-5-2.

Schalke Better Out Wide, Huntelaar & Sané

In the first leg of the tie, Schalke struggled with Real Madrid’s numbers in the wide areas as is typical in a formation that has no wide midfielders or wingers in front of the backs. Luckily for Schalke, however, Real Madrid were not great at exploiting these situations for much of the match. The most notable time resulted in Ronaldo’s goal, with Carvajal getting into a 1v1, coming back on his weaker left foot before chipping a ball into the box that Ronaldo headed past Wellenreuther.

In this leg, Schalke were much the better side in the wide areas and a lot of it had to do with how Real Madrid set up when defending. Going forward, they were very much a 4-3-3, with Bale on the right and Ronaldo and Benzema switching between a wide left position and the centre forward position. This made it much easier for Schalke to play out of the back. Usually, the German side looked comfortable with Höwedes, Matip, and Nastastic marking the three Real Madrid, meaning Fuchs and Barnetta could venture forward and provide a wide, vertical outlet for Schalke. When defending, Ronaldo would always stay high and central, alongside Benzema, while Bale would drop, he rarely helped Arbeloa with Fuchs. With Ronaldo staying high, Barnetta was able to find plenty of space and Schalke used the two wing backs very effectively throughout the match. Below is a good example of both Fuchs and Barnetta in huge amounts of space, with Ronaldo and Bale out of screen, high up the pitch.

It did not seem as though Carlo Ancelotti had initially thought to defend in a 4-4-2 as Barnetta’s side was open and so with Ronaldo staying as high and as central as he did, it was up to Isco to slide over and help with the defensive responsibilities out wide, with in turn, left the midfield more open.

Typically, when playing against wing backs, the full backs are usually able to contain the attack threat. In the last match, Aogo and Uchida had relatively little influence on the match in an attacking sense, so the above statement was true, but against Schalke in this match, Huntelaar, Choupo-Moting, Sané were extremely influential in the amount of space that the wing backs were able to find. The above screen capture, highlighting the space that both Fuchs and Barnetta were able to find, shows another excellent part of Schalke and Di Matteo’s tactical plan on the day. In order to create space for the wing backs, the forwards drifted from the centre leaving Pepe and Varane with no one to mark and forcing the outside backs in Arbeloa and Coentrão to track the inside runs of the forwards until a centre back picked them up, which left the wing backs open.

With their freedom, Fuchs and Barnetta were extremely influential. The first goal of the match was an excellent example of both the wing backs play, as well as Huntelaar’s runs. Barnetta was found in space after Max Meyer committed Coentrão, which forced Pepe to slide out to close down Barnetta, but the Schalke wing back was quick to play the ball across the box to an open Fuchs, with Arbeloa tracking Huntelaar’s run inside. Fuchs took a touch before shooting at Casillas’ near post to give Schalke a 1-0 lead.

Schalke’s Midfield

Both sides lined up with three man midfields, with both sides having just one golding midfielder and two more advanced players. Real Madrid had Kroos as the holding player with Khedira and Isco in front, while Schalke had Neustädter holding and Meyer and Höger in front of him. While on paper the two sides played with three central midfielders, although in theory Kroos and Neustädter would have been overload, Schalke were able to control the midfield because of Real Madrid’s defensive shape. Playing in a 4-4-2 without the ball, Isco was forced to go into a wide left position with Kroos and Khedira next to one another in the central area. This allowed Meyer, in particular, to have a lot of time on the ball and also allowed Schalke to have an option going backwards to relieve pressure with the German side maintaining a 3v2, if not a 4v2 depending on Neustädter’s positioning.

As mentioned, Meyer thrived in the amount of space in midfield and the limited pressure on the ball that the likes of Kroos and Khedira were applying. Meyer was able to break the lines with both his passing and dribbling and Schalke’s first goal was a good example of him being able to commit players to create space (Coentrão in that situation) for a pass into the open player. The teenager was arguably the best player on the pitch and always looked to create and give an option to the player on the ball. His shooting wasn’t the best at times, but Casillas split one of his efforts, allowing Huntelaar to finish to give Schalke a 2-1 advantage on the night, in a goal that highlighted Schalke’s excellent build up play on the night.

Changes

Sané’s introduction into the side was forced, but it was a good one for Di Matteo, the forward drifted around the back four just as Huntelaar did to occupy Real Madrid’s outside backs. The substitute also got himself a goal and forced Casillas into a save in the dying minutes of the match when Schalke could have knocked the champions out with another away goal.

The most influential substitution on the night, however, was Modric’s introduction into the match in the 58th minute for Khedira. The German did very little to influence the match. He is known for his dynamic player, but on the night he was anything but that, failing to win tackles, move the ball with any purpose, or support attacks with late runs forward. Modric’s influence on the match was evident almost immediately. He began to move the ball well and completed more passes than his German counterpart despite being on the pitch for half the amount of time. The biggest difference between Modric’s play and Khedira’s was how the Croatian dictated the play. He slowed the game down significantly and it hurt Schalke’s attacks more than anything else. Prior to Modric’s introduction the German side were quick and decisive with the ball, but when the Croatian began to move the ball at his speed, the whole game slowed down and the German side were never able to up the tempo of the match until the dying moments.

Conclusion

It was certainly a close call for Real Madrid and Ancelotti and they won’t be able to escape the criticism that will surely come their way. They were slow and lethargic when in possession and aside from the likes of Isco, their work rate off the ball was extremely lacking. Schalke were by far the better team and deserved to win on the day, if not the tie itself.

Modric’s introduction did wonders for the Spanish side and they will certainly be happy to have him back and will be hoping that he can continue to have such an influence on what seems like a disjointed team. Their best attacks on the night were against the run of play, something that they cannot maintain, especially at home.