Interim manager gets Champions League reward after keeping two forwards on to the end
Chelsea's intention against Bayern Munich was to replicate their performances against Barcelona in both legs of the semi-final. They were not going to have more possession, they were not going to record more shots, and so this game was about discipline, last-ditch defending and counterattacking. But while Chelsea somehow emerged victorious, Bayern caused them even more problems than Barça did in either leg of the semi-final. Against Barcelona their defending was intelligent and controlled, whereas here it was less subtle: they allowed Bayern 42 shots, but blocked 22 of them.
While Chelsea's overall approach was broadly the same, their formation was slightly different. This was the 4‑2‑3-1 shape Roberto Di Matteo has been using in league fixtures, rather than the 4-3-3 he used against Pep Guardiola's side – although with the wide players dropping back without the ball, it was more like the difference between a 4‑4‑1-1 and a 4-5-1.
They may be very similar in numerical terms, but there was a crucial alteration in how Chelsea defended. Against Barcelona they had three deep-lying midfielders – Frank Lampard, Mikel John Obi and Raul Meireles – all occupying the zone in front of the defence. Here they only had Lampard and Mikel, with Mata playing very high up the pitch, broadly picking up one of Bayern's deep-lying central midfielders but making little effort to get himself behind the ball, instead trying to prompt counterattacks.
That was a deliberate strategy, of course: the selection of Ryan Bertrand confirmed what Di Matteo wanted. Even if Florent Malouda was not fit enough to start, Di Matteo had the option of playing Michael Essien as a third central midfielder, and pushing Juan Mata to the flank. This was a braver strategy.
However, this Chelsea lineup had problems in midfield. The fluid midfield duo of Toni Kroos and Bastian Schweinsteiger took it in turns to move forward, and Mata was not sure which player to track – as soon as he jogged back towards his own goal with one, the other would speed past unchecked and become an extra attacking player.
That was the second part of Chelsea's problem, however. The first involved Thomas Müller, Bayern's deep-lying forward, who continually found space in behind Chelsea's midfield. He tends to drift to the right of the pitch anyway – another reason why Bertrand may have been picked, to provide defensive cover on that flank. Here, Müller found space in behind Frank Lampard. Because Chelsea's stand-in captain played slightly higher up the pitch than Mikel there was a pocket of space behind him. This pulled Mikel across to cover and, although the Nigerian manfully covered a great deal of space in front of the defence, he was often unable to deal with both Müller and either Schweinsteiger or Kroos moving forward.
Müller finding space between the lines played a part in numerous key attacking moves. He brought David Luiz out of position for Mario Gomez's great chance towards the end of the first half, then he was the man to dribble forward in the lead-up to Franck Ribéry's disallowed goal. Towards the end of the second half his presence towards the right became even more obvious – he had a fine chance from a similar position to the one he eventually scored from, and also tempted Mikel into a rash tackle, for which he was booked. Had his fine header been the only goal of the game, Müller would have been a fitting matchwinner – he was the game's key player in tactical terms.
In the short spell between the two goals, both coaches made dramatic changes. Jupp Heynckes sacrificed Muller in order to bring on an extra centre-back in Daniel van Buyten, with both Anatoliy Tymoshchuk and Toni Kroos moving higher up the pitch. Di Matteo went for broke, bringing on Fernando Torres for Salomon Kalou. After Didier Drogba headed in a corner, the game went into extra time with lineups neither coach would have wanted to use for long spells, and as a result the game became cagey and defensive, with both sides playing in an overcautious manner. Attacking moves lacked fluency and cohesion, while the defences wanted extra protection from the men ahead.
Chelsea were particularly uncomfortable down their right side – without a natural player to defend that flank, Torres and Drogba took it in turns to occupy that zone. Drogba's lazy, unnecessary tackle on Ribéry was an extreme reflection of that vulnerability.
Had Arjen Robben converted his penalty, Di Matteo might have been criticised for not replacing Drogba with a player who could assist José Bosingwa more effectively. In the end, such are the fine margins in football, Drogba turned out to be the hero.
But whereas Heynckes removed one of his two forwards immediately after Bayern's goal, Di Matteo persisted with two strikers.
At the end of a run where Chelsea combined intelligent tactics with a decent slice of luck, fortune favoured the brave. Read More
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