Before the war, who would win the battle of Liverpool and Real Madrid in the Champions League final?

Welcome, last year we had an extensive interview with two of the brightest Arab minds in the field of tactical analysis, they are Hassan Beltaji, performance analyst for the first German team, and Ahmed Walid, blogger and tactical analyst, who co-directed (1) the book “Zonal Marking” (Zonal Marking) owned by Michael Cox, an analyst for The Athletic.

This is a habit that we intend to maintain in the coming years, of course if Hassan and Walid allow us to do so, and if you read the interview last year, you will know that the two are Manchester United fans.

So let's get started.

First of all, we welcome both of you, and we thank you both for the opportunity to use your knowledge to try to decode the final of an insane tournament that, with an unbearable dose of excitement, has become the norm in recent years.

Let's start with Hassan;

First of all, did you expect Liverpool and Real Madrid to be the final parties?

Did one of them surprise you?

And why?

• Hassan: Of course, I was surprised when Real Madrid reached the final.

  I expected that the two parties to the match would be Liverpool and City because they are the two best teams in the world at the moment, but the arrival of Real Madrid surprised me as it surprised many.

• Walid: I agree with what Hassan said. Real Madrid's arrival in the final was a surprise to me as well.

"Ahmed Walid" blogger and tactical analyst (right) and "Hassan Beltaji" performance analyst for the German national team

Let us turn to Walid on the second question;

What do you think of the new form of Liverpool's attack during the stages of possession and transformations, with Mane in the depth with the use of both Salah and Diaz on the sides?

How might this affect the meeting?

• Walid: First of all, we should note how Diaz adapted very quickly to Liverpool since his arrival in January, and how the opposite happened with a player like Minamino, even though he came from the Salzburg team experienced in pressure, and although his choice came based on the study of the scouts team in Liverpool to ensure its suitability to the requirements of the team and Klopp, and despite this, he failed to adapt completely despite his continuous attempts.

This brings me to my second point;

I think Diaz was the best attacking quintet for Liverpool since he signed him in January, because he added to the team a lot in 1 vs. 1 situations. Salah and Jota weren't bad in these situations, but Liverpool depended on Mane mainly and mainly, and with Louis Diaz has become for Liverpool more than a weapon in individual confrontations.

On paper, Jota shared a striker and Mane a left winger, and then they exchanged their positions in many shots, so it is not the first time that Mane has tried playing in this location, and the Leeds United match at the beginning of the season is proof of that.

We can also say that the circumstances had a major role in arriving at the current offensive form;

Firmino's injury, Jota's level slightly lower compared to his start at the start of the season, and Diaz's stardom as soon as he arrived.

Roberto Firmino (right) and Diogo Jota

As for the impact of all this on the match, I think that Mane's advantages in receiving under pressure may make a difference, especially with his ability to receive and rotate easily and in one movement.

The Senegalese also has more energy in the so-called explosive power, as he can perform more than one consecutive bout of running efficiently during the pressure stages, which helps him in chasing the ball more quickly than Firmino while Real Madrid's defense and goalkeeper circulate it, especially since Liverpool showed a tendency to press sharply and greater aggressiveness against Villarreal in the semi-finals, which closely corresponds to the characteristics of the current attacking trio;

Diaz, Mane, and Salah, in particular, the first duo.

• Hassan: I would like to add that Mane's move to this central position may extend his life on the field for an additional five or six years.

  The Senegalese is very distinguished in landing and receiving under pressure, and he is distinguished in everything that follows that step as well, whether it is communicating with his colleagues in complex games and passing duos, or what we call “Link-up Play”, or in protecting the ball and waiting for the movements of his colleagues, which is known with "Hold-up Play".

  Firmino may be smarter on the move than the Senegalese, but the latter makes up for that with his cleverness in positioning during crosses and his excellence in heading.

  All of this has increased his scoring rate since he moved deep as well.

Heading depends more on movement and the ability to trick defenders than on height.

Mane is not tall (175 cm), but he is good at moving on the blind side of defenders, and this is what makes him score a lot of goals with his head for a player of his height.

I also agree with Walid on what he said about Luis Diaz.

Mohamed Salah (right) and Luis Diaz

Well, let's go back to Hassan;

Many have talked about the troubles caused by Liverpool's high defense line, especially against City in the last confrontation in the league, so do you think that the spaces behind Arnold will be one of the keys to the match?

And how can the club reduce its risk?

And how can Ancelotti benefit from it?

• Hassan: This is a very complex question.

  Let's start by talking about what Pep Leenders said because he talked about how to stop the opponent's 5 defenders (defensive line + central player who turn into 6 by adding the goalkeeper) using only 3 players from the front line, meaning that the Liverpool attacking trio starts pressing from the second line, which includes a player The center and the two backs, then the trio moves inside towards the central defenders and the goalkeeper to force them to disperse the ball, and if the goalkeeper (Courtois in this case) passes the ball high to one of the two backs, the two central midfielders (Tiago and Henderson) will move to pressure them.

This idea was killed research in the confrontations of Klopp and Guardiola during the past years, and the latter managed to outperform it more than once, which prompted Klopp and Leenders to change the methodology with more intense pressure this season, and switch from negative pressure (Passive Pressing) to positive pressure (Active Pressing). With the aim of extracting the ball in one third of the defensive opponent.

This is what makes this stage one of the most exciting in this match, simply because the stage that you meet with the opponent, i.e. building play, is the best tactical Real Madrid stage at all, and it uses several solutions, most notably moving Kroos to receive at the Mendy site to escape from censorship, or Launching Casemiro forward and then playing the longitudinal balls and relying on him in the struggle for the first and second balls, or overloading one of the sides of the field with both Modric and Kroos together and confusing the position of the opponent players to create space on the opposite side.

Trent Alexander Arnold

This leads me to believe that the most important question that Klopp should answer is how to stop the construction of play for Real Madrid, especially since the use of any of the previous techniques may force him to use an additional player alongside the attacking trio in pressing, and Ancelotti may use both, pushing Casemiro forward Forcing Fabinho to retreat, then move Modric and Kroos to one side to free the full-back, all techniques that could cause trouble for Liverpool in pressing.

But if we move to the essence of the question about the spaces behind Arnold, I think that Liverpool has developed a lot this season in terms of communication between the trio Salah, Arnold and Henderson, as they maintain their position all the time to form triangles, whether in the case of preventive control to confront transformations and anticipate their paths, or in The case of building gameplay to provide options for passing and getting out of tight spaces with quick short ground passes, or even in the use of the trio as a station for overloading and launching transitions.

Nevertheless, I think that Pochettino's solution to Vinicius was simply genius;

The use of Danilo Pereira as an observer for the Brazilian deprived him of many of the breakthroughs that Real Madrid is good at in transitions, which is the second best tactical stage that Meringue is good at, but this would mean sacrificing Arnold for a player like Joe Gomez, for example, which I ruled out.

• Walid: I agree with Hassan on the positive pressure part, and I think the best example of that was the match between Liverpool and City in the FA Cup, and we can refer to what happened in the first leg of the semi-final against Villarreal as well.

  (2)

In this match, Salah was interested in putting pressure on Pau Torres, the left defender of Villarreal, and Mane's focus was on putting pressure on his right companion, Raul Albiol, more than goalkeeper Jeronimo Rulli.

Salah's positioning in this way meant that Villarreal's left-back, Pervis Estupinan, was free to receive the ball, which Liverpool were prepared for.

Behind Salah were Villarreal's center players, Parejo and Caboé, positioned in the middle, and both Thiago and Jordan Henderson watched them as the submarine central defenders passed the ball.

But when the ball was moving to the left, Henderson was moving to put pressure on Estupinan, at a time when Salah's pressure on Torres intensified, to prevent him from thinking carefully about his next pass, and forcing him to take the ball out quickly.

Here Henderson runs quickly to put pressure on Estupinan and force him to take the ball out.

Well, Arnold spoke in a recent interview with “The Athletic” about the idea of ​​a triangle of concentration between him, Henderson and Salah, and explained it exactly as Hassan explained it, but I want to focus on Real Madrid’s transformational stage because it is the most dangerous in my view, and I think that Liverpool has an advantage over others. Of the clubs in this part, it is summarized in the fact that Fabinho always tends to cover up Arnold in the moments of transition from attack to defense, and uses his ability to predict to focus in the space in which the opponent will play the ball, which makes him an excellent cover for the incursions of the English full back.

(2)

Similarly, I do not think that the situation would have been better on the opposite side, simply because despite Robertson's superiority over Arnold in defensive characteristics and one-on-one confrontations, the Liverpool team used to book Van Dyck to cover behind the Scot for this very reason, and if Vinicius was active on the opposite side, it would have been Trouble too, because he would have forced Van Dyck to go out to the party all the time.

Well, Walid, since you have talked about Fabinho and his role in the coverage, I remember a special expression of you that I have always admired, which is describing Fabinho as "Thomas Muller" of the defensive phase .. Can you clarify that?

How might his absence from the match and Henderson's replacement affect him?

• Walid: I will start with a point that may not have anything to do with the topic, but I think that Rodri has improved a lot this season, considering that many people often compare him to the Brazilian. As for Fabinho, the idea here is that Muller always described himself as “a space invader,” or as the English translate it “translator.” spaces".

  The expression in German is "Raumdeuter", which means that Müller can understand space and anticipate play, which is the same thing I think Fabinho does on the defensive.

There are many who talked about Fabinho's abilities in reverse pressure (Gegenpressing) at the moment of losing the ball, as well as his awareness of the movements of the trio who plays in front of him and the line of defense behind him, and then his ability to cover with great success, but I think that all this is due to his ability to anticipate the course of play and the space that will be played It has the ball, as Muller expects in the case of possession and the last offensive third.

This is mainly due to the Brazilian’s intelligence and individual skills, but Liverpool’s proactive defense system helps him as well. If you cross the first pressure line for the Reds, and notice the movements of the second and third lines, you will discover that Liverpool players always anticipate the ball, so Matip or Konate, for example, goes out to cover behind Arnold in the event of his rise To put pressure on the full-back / winger, and the same is repeated with Van Dijk and Robertson on the left, so you notice that it is a general pattern, but Fabinho adds to Liverpool another defensive dimension with his ability to anticipate longitudinal balls and second balls and deal with them efficiently, and end complex situations in tight spaces comfortably.

Therefore, if the Brazilian is absent, Liverpool will miss his intelligence in this space.

Henderson is distinguished by his high effort and ability to assist the team in the pressure and backpress phases, but he is not as efficient as Fabinho in reading the space.

The second important point here is that Fabinho’s absence will push Keita in the starting lineup on the right in Henderson’s position, while Henderson retreats to the base, and the Guinean plays regularly for the first time since he came to Liverpool, and he is not in agreement with Salah and Arnold to the same degree, but he is distinguished from Henderson in his ability to infiltrate the box and receive The balls are behind the opponent's defence, which is something Wijnaldum is very similar to.

The conclusion is that Keita often plays out of necessity, which will negatively affect the Liverpool system twice;

The first is because they will miss Fabinho in the focus, and the second is because they will miss Henderson, accompanied by Salah and Arnold on the right.

Henderson (centre) with Salah (left) and Arnold (right)

• Hassan: I completely agree with Walid regarding Fabinho, and I want to remind that Pep Guardiola’s plan against the two teams in the first round of the league this season was based mainly on Fabinho’s job with Jack Grealish all the time, restricting his freedom, and thus preventing him from reading the game and supporting his teammates as much as possible.

To complement this point, Klopp's assistant Pep Leanders recently told "The Coaches Voice" that what they apply in Liverpool is not "pressing" in the traditional sense, but rather like chasing the ball, referring to Liverpool's ferocity in This stage of play compared to the rest of the teams, do you think they will maintain the same approach against Real Madrid or not?

Is it possible that this strongly affects the shape of the match, similar to what happened against City in the season before last?

Or will Davide Ancelotti's ideas of getting out of the pressure may help Real Madrid, as he appeared in the second leg against City?

• – Hassan: As we previously talked about the Liverpool pressure part with the front three, I think that Guardiola had found a solution for it a long time ago by using a second pivot player in this case, giving the idea on a plate of gold to all Liverpool opponents in this situation, which was also used by Inter Inzaghi Against attempts to pressure the Reds.

There is another solution that will be more difficult for Liverpool to deal with, which is to transform the form to 3-2 in the first third during the construction of play, that is, using a third central defender with the usual duo, and adding a second axis that makes it impossible for Liverpool to apply their pressure in this way, simply Because one of the central defenders may advance the ball directly, or pass it to the free extra player in the middle.

So I think that at this stage the ball will be in Liverpool’s court in the figurative sense. If we are talking about a chess match, Real Madrid can easily overcome the pressure of Liverpool, and it has solutions that enable it to do so, so it depends on Liverpool’s ability to adapt to this. The situation, and changing the form of pressure to anticipate Real Madrid's expected solutions.

This leads us to talk about Real Madrid in general. If we divide the match into six stages, we will find that Real Madrid is very distinguished in building play and leading offensive transformations, and rarely finds itself besieging the opponent in its defensive third, and the low and medium pressure is generally not as good as the defensive transitions. And in most of these situations he relies on Courtois's efficiency and quick reaction.

The main problem would be if Real Madrid decided to apply high pressure.

This is where randomness lies because no one can predict what will happen;

Sometimes Real Madrid implements high pressure efficiently and causes a lot of problems for its opponents, and other times the idea is not well-studied enough to cause it to easily exceed the pressure and constantly threaten its goal.

• Walid: I totally agree with Hassan on this point, but I expect Liverpool to find tactical solutions to these situations.

This brings us to the last question, which may be the most difficult of all.

Do you expect that the historical personality of Real Madrid on the one hand, and the previous confrontations in his favor against Liverpool on the other hand, play a role in determining the outcome?

Do you think that Real Madrid's randomness and impulsiveness in crucial moments could cause a huge problem for Liverpool, or that the team has become experienced in dealing with these situations?

• Walid: I feel that Liverpool is not underestimated in this part, they have gone through many experiences, and these experiences have refined their mentality and their abilities to deal with these situations.

  We are talking about the third final of the Champions League in 5 years, and two finals of the Cup this season, and even the bad last season had a role in that from my point of view.

Klopp always talks about the mental aspect in press conferences after matches, and often says that he wants his players to be like “Mentality Monsters” in this part.

With regard to Real Madrid and the hero's personality, I think that the repetition of brilliant individual moments in the club's history, and their ability to make a difference in many cases, made people believe in their abilities more.

Players like Benzema and Vinicius take to the field believing that they can change the outcome on their own, if we talk about individuals only, not to mention Real Madrid's history in the tournament

I also think that Real Madrid is good at implementing some stages and ideas in some matches, the problem is that you do not know which stage they will master this time because the tactical structure is not fixed.

Against City, for example, they succeeded in applying high/medium pressure, which caused Guardiola some problems.

Real Madrid's "randomness and rush" may cause some trouble to Liverpool, of course, as they caused their predecessors, but I think the difference here is in favor of Liverpool because they have a very sharp attacking line in front of the goal, as well as in 1 against 1 situations. I bet on them in these situations compared to the Chelsea or City strikers. For example, in the sense that if we were talking about the personality in difficult situations and the ability to take advantage of the simplest opportunities, I think that Liverpool is the most difficult team among those Real Madrid faced in this part, as its attackers do not waste many opportunities, and if the match tilts towards them, they will not be given Real Madrid is a way to return recklessly in front of the goal, as happened in the semi-finals against City and the quarter-finals against Chelsea.

Well, thank you.

We were glad to have you, and we hope to repeat the dialogue before the 2023 Champions League final!

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