Tactical analysis: Ac Milan vs juventus 

By Sakhumuzi Mpofu

_{Feature photo credit: Getty images}

This past Wednesday saw two of the most decorated clubs in Italy facing off for the first time this season, as AC Milan attempted to extend their lead to 4 points from second place Inter and to increase the distance between them and Juventus by 13 points,  whereas Juventus aimed to claw their way back into the title race by reducing the gap between them and AC Milan to seven points. AC Milan were missing some key players such as Bennacer, Tonali, Rebic and most notably Ibrahimovic. 

Line ups 

AC Milan lined up in a 4-2-3-1 and with Calabria coming into the midfield due to various injuries and suspensions, whilst Juventus lined up in a 4-4-2 with Ronaldo and Dybala leading the line.       

AC Milan’s high intensity pressing and Juventus’ build up.

Throughout the early stages of the game Milan aimed to press Juventus very highly and opted to use a man marking system that would prevent Juventus from creating numerical superiorities when playing out from the back. As seen below, Castillejo would press De ligt aggressively as Rafa Leao would use his cover shadow when pressing Szczesny to prevent passes to Bonnucci, whilst Çalhanoglu stayed close behind Bentancur to prevent him from turning and playing a pass forward and Calabria did the same to Ramsey, with Diogo Dalot pressing Frabotta from behind. AC Milan pressed in this manner to force turnovers in advanced areas of the pitch, allowing for quick transitions closer to goal, as well as forcing juventus to play the ball long, allowing them to win the ball in the air. 

Here again we can see how Milan’s press prevents Juventus from gaining superiority when playing out from the back, forcing them into making turnovers in high risk areas.

Juventus usually managed to break Milan’s press only when Milan made errors when pressing due to Ronaldo moving to the wing, pinning Dalot back and preventing him from pressing Frabotta, resulting in Juventus creating numerical superiority for brief moments. However, this only occurred a handful of times.

Nevertheless, Milan’s high pressing strategy did have some weaknesses which were displayed when Juve managed to play through it and were able to dribble into an “empty” midfield and progress the ball through the midfield uncontested.

Another example sees Rabiot taking a great first touch past Kessie, which allowed him to push through the midfield and find Kulusevski who would then advance the ball further forward before providing the assist for the 3rd goal.

When Juventus advanced further up the pitch, Milan would still utilize their 4-2-3-1 shape and man marking system, whilst Juventus’ 4-4-2 turned into a number of different variations with Bonnucci staying back, Danilo playing as an inverted full back and pushing forward and De ligt pushing forward into the midfield as well. Chiesa maintained the width on the right hand side while Frabotta hugged the line on the left, as Ramsey pushed inwards into the midfield, with Ronaldo and Dybala also dropping deep to receive the ball, with Ronaldo occasionally moving out wide. As seen below, due to De ligt and Danilo pushing up into the midfield as well as Danilo’s inverted role, Milan’s Wingers Hauge and Castillejo were forced to move inside, narrowing Milan’s 4-2-3-1. This, as well as Ronaldo and Dybala dropping deep meant that Juventus created numerical superiority in the midfield which as mentioned before forced Milan into a narrow shape and created space particularly on the right hand side, which they exploited by switching the ball from left to right.

Another example shows how Hauge moves centrally to apply pressure to Rabiot to prevent Juventus from obtaining  overwhelming numerical superiority in the midfield and as a result creates space down the right hand side for Danilo, who receives the switched pass and then would play it to Chiesa forcing Theo Hernandez into a 1v1, which would eventually result in the first goal of the game.

Juve’s mid block and Milan’s build up

Milan attacked in a sort of 4-1-2-3 and 3-3-1-3 formation, with Kessie dropping deeper to receive the ball from the two CBs and occasionally dropped between them to form a back 3. Dalot would stay out wide with Hernandez pushing infield slightly with the wingers Hauge and Castillejo staying high and wide, whilst Calabria and Calhanoglu positioned themselves behind Juve’s 2nd line of defense. Juventus used a man-oriented zonal marking 4-4-2 system when defending, with Chiesa and Ramsey pushing inwards from their left and right midfield positions to protect the centre and depending on the situation, one of either Bentancur or Rabiot would press Kessie whenever he dropped deep to receive the ball.

 

 Below shows Kessie dropping deeper to receive the ball whilst Bentancur applies pressure from behind.

However, this pressing strategy caused problems for Juventus as the narrow midfield 4 created space out wide for Milan’s full backs and wingers and when either Bentancur or Rabiot pressured Kessie, a gap in the midfield was created, this allowed Calhanoglu and occasionally Leao and Calabria to receive passes behind Juve’s second line of defence. This meant that Milan often progressed the ball through the centre of the pitch which was also aided by the juve midfields poor implementation of using cover shadows to prevent direct passes to Milan attackers behind them

As seen above, Kessie dropping deep triggers Rabiot to apply pressure from behind but by doing so, he crates space for Calhanoglu to drop deep and receive the ball. Below shows a similar scenario but with Bentancur this time, which creates space for Calabria to receive the ball, as well as Calhanoglu. In this instance, Rafa Leao staying higher up the field created even more space in the midfield as his position pinned the Juventus defenders back.

Nevertheless, Milan were unable to create clear cut chances due to the lack of quality in Milan’s final ball, which was due to the fact that even when their press was played through, Juve’s midfielders recovered quickly and outnumbered Milan attackers, congested the box. This allowed them to block shots and win aerial duels as well as restricting Milan to taking 12 of their 19 shots from outside the box.

Below shows Juve crowding out Milan’s attackers

Conclusion 

Overall, it was a deserved win for Juventus who created over 2xg to Milan’s 0.91. It was a very entertaining match that was closely contested for large parts of the game and showed that both teams will play major roles in this seasons title race. Although they lost, Milan still sit top of the table. Due to the result, their unbeaten run has come to an end, however, they can be reassured by the fact that their strongest players should return to the squad soon. Juventus can take great confidence from reducing Milan’s lead to 7 points, still with a game in hand against Napoli.