Match date: 21 April 2015

The first leg of the tie saw Porto put Bayern Munich under an enormous amount of pressure (and saw Müller-Wohlfahrt leave the German club) with a 3-1 win, but that away goal certainly gave Bayern Munich and Pep Guardiola hope coming into this match.

Guardiola has a number of players out through injury, restricting him to making just one change to the side that loss in the first leg with Badstuber coming in for Dante. Bayern Munich lined up in a 4-4-2, but a 4-4-2 that was very different from the first leg’s approach.

Julen Lopetegui name mostly an unchanged side to that of the first leg, but was forced to make changes at the back with both Alex Sandro and Danilo out suspended after picking up yellow cards in the first leg. Marcano returned to the side alongside Maicon, with Martins Indi moving to left back and Diego Reyes coming into the side at right back.

Bayern’s 4-4-2

In the first leg, Guardiola set out his midfield four of Alonso, Lahm, Thiago, and Götze, in a midfield diamond. This caused a number of problems for Bayern Munich, with Thiago and Götze trying to use the same space on the field to operate in, Casemiro breaking up play really well through the middle of the pitch for Porto, and Porto almost always having Alex Sandro and Danilo as outlets in the wide areas when they were in possession of the ball. In reaction to these problems, and more importantly the suspensions of Alex Sandro and Danilo, Guardiola kept the same personnel in midfield, but had them play as a flat four across the middle, with Alonso and Thiago in the middle, Lahm on the right, and Götze on the left. This immediately cause problems for Porto, who were unable to deal with the numbers and combinations in the wide areas. Below is a good example of Götze playing right on the touch line, as he did for much of the first half and Lahm in a wide right position on the opposite side of the ball.

With both Danilo and Alex Sandro out, Porto struggled to control the wide areas as Götze and Bernat on the left and Lahm and Rafinha on the right were able to get into excellent positions. Porto struggled to close down crosses from out wide and it is of no coincidence that four of Bayern Munich’s five first half goals came from play in the wide areas, with the other coming from a corner kick. There was some excellent build up play that led to the goals as well, especially the first goal that saw Bernat find plenty of space to deliver a near post cross which Thiago met after good movement in the box and the third goal which saw Lahm allowed to cross in and find Müller, who then found Lewandowski.

Müller and Lewandowski’s movement were key to Bayern’s 4-4-2 working well as they drifted deep and wide, occupying Casemiro, which allowed Thiago and Alonso to match up to Porto’s midfield three, while also occupying Martins Indi and Reyes, allowing the wide areas to become more open for the likes of Götze, Bernat, Lahm and Rafinha. When Müller and Lewandowski drifted out wide, Thiago and Alonso were able to get on the ball, but were very quick to move it along without allowing themselves to be outnumbered by Casemiro, Herrera, and Oliver. Thiago and Müller, in particular, were excellent in their respective lines. Thiago controlled the midfield and moved the ball very well throughout the game, while Müller’s movement, into midfield to occupy Casemiro and out wide to overload Martins Indi with Lahm and Rafinha, allowed others to find space easily.

Götze and Lahm had their parts to play as well. Götze pinched inside in the final third of the field and allowed Bernat to have space in the wide areas, while Lahm kept his width on the right and, as mentioned above, was given huge amounts of space to put in excellent crosses because of the movement of his forwards occupying Martins Indi and Rafinha moving Brahimi around.

Bayern’s Pressing, Porto Deep

The first half saw Bayern at their best in terms of their pressing. With Porto’s lack of pressing and Jackson Martinez dropping behind the ball just about every time Boateng and Badstuber had the ball, it allowed Bayern Munich to make the field very small when Porto won in back in deep positions. Boateng and Badstuber were able to sit on the halfway line, if not further into Porto’s half, and it allowed the Bayern Munich players in front of them to put immediate pressure on the ball and for the centre backs to sweep up Porto’s clearances quickly and start another attack.

A lot of Bayern Munich’s success in their pressing was due to Porto’s narrow defending, which also helped Bayern’s attacks. Without Porto’s defenders pushing all the way out to Lahm and Götze when Bayern had the ball, it allowed Bayern to find use the wide areas effectively, as mentioned above, but it also meant that when Porto won the ball back, they had no outlet in the wide areas and with Jackson Martinez defending deep, it meant that Porto struggled to work the ball out and start any attacks. Below, you can see Jackson Martinez well behind the ball, with Oliver tracking Thiago and getting back into the Porto shape.

While Porto tried to keep their first leg lead by having everyone behind the ball, they somewhat forgot about what had gotten them that lead. Porto’s pressing in the first leg led to all three of their goals, whether it was Jackson Martinez on Alonso or Quaresma intercepting, their high press disrupted Bayern Munich’s flow and did not allow them to get a hold on the game. With that said, it was interesting that Lopetegui did not continue with the high pressing, knowing that Bayern struggled to deal with it in the first leg. The mindset was clearly to defend their 3-1 lead, but with Porto defending incredibly deep, it simply allowed Bayern Munich to attack and attack, and if they lost the ball, they were able to win it back quickly as Porto had no outlet.

Second Half and Changes

At the end of the first half, Bayern Munich were 5-0 up in the match and 6-3 up in the tie, allowing them to rest a bit in the second half. Both managers made changes to their formations at half time as Guardiola switched from that flat four midfield back to the diamond that he used in the first game, while Lopetegui switched to a 3-5-2 with Casemiro moving from the deep midfield position to the middle centre back with Maicon and Marcano on either side. Neves came in for Quaresma and played at the base of the midfield while Brahimi played off of Jackson Martinez.

This allowed Porto a bit more possession in the half, after they allowed Bayern Munich to have about 70% of the ball in the first half, but at this point Bayern Munich looked to be resting on their lead and at times, looked comfortable enough with Porto having the ball. Porto’s pressing was better and it was evident when they won the ball back high up the pitch before getting a cross into the box for Jackson Martinez to head into Neuer’s goal. Martinez came close on another opportunity, but it went just wide of the far post.

Conclusion

The match and tie were over after the first half as Bayern came out and completely dominated Porto. Guardiola got his tactics spot on from the start as he exploited the lack of experience in the wide areas for Porto as Bayern Munich played some great football and won the ball back quickly to restart their attacks.

Lopetegui will obviously be disappointed that his side were unable to go through and, perhaps, he showed Bayern Munich and Guardiola too much respect in this match rather than taking a risk and putting in a similar plan to that of the first leg.