Some very interesting tactics happening in this [[2025-2026 Champions League]] match of [[Real Madrid]] against [[Manchester City]]. I enjoyed a lot [[Cómo la nueva posición de Valverde Humilló al City de Guardiola|this video]] by [[Pedro El Ingeniero]] explaining it on detail. The main takeaway is that they played a sort of 4-4-2: [[Trent Alexander-Arnold|Arnold]], [[Antonio Rüdiger|Rudiger]], [[Dean Huijsen|Huisen]], [[Ferland Mendy|Mendy]] in the back; [[Aurélien Tchouaméni|Tchouameni]] and [[Thiago Pitarch|Pitarch]] as CMF, [[Federico Valverde|Valverde]] as RMF (again, sort of) and [[Arda Güler|Guler]] as LMF; with [[Vinícius Jr.|Vinicius]] and [[Brahim Díaz|Brahim]] as strikers. The key parts of this tactics are: - When out of possession, [[Federico Valverde|Valverde]] would drop to a RFB position and [[Trent Alexander-Arnold|Arnold]] would work as a RCB, turning [[Real Madrid]] into an effective 5-3-2 on defense. That way, Madrid was able to contain [[Jérémy Doku|Doku]] thanks to [[Federico Valverde|Valverde]]. - To initiate the play, [[Thiago Pitarch|Pitarch]] would drop to a deep position right next to [[Aurélien Tchouaméni|Tchouameni]] that would make Madrid overrun [[Manchester City|City]]'s high pressure. - [[Federico Valverde|Valverde]] would also be in charge on running to attack spaces and performing long runs, which amounts to playing as RFB, RM, RF – [[Federico Valverde|Valverde]] own the whole right side of the field.