At 2:45 a.m. Beijing time on October 11, the final of the European League officially began, and the two warring sides were Spain and France. In the 64th minute of the second half, Spain's veteran Busquets picked out a pass and Oyasaval scored from a tight angle to help the Matadors take a 1-0 lead. In the 65th and 81st minutes, Benzema and Mbappe scored one goal each, and France won the championship by a 2-1 aggregate victory over Spain. There were several controversial episodes in the match, such as the 81st minute of Te O'Clock, Kylian Mbappe's goal to reverse the scoreline. Before Theo's pass, Mbappe was clearly in offside. According to the latest news from the European Football Association, because of the return pass of Spanish centre-back Garcia, even if Kylian Mbappe, who is in an offside position, can easily receive the ball and shoot, there is no problem with this goal, and France has won the game without any danger.
Putting aside all kinds of off-field factors and the referee's deliberate spoiling, from a tactical point of view alone, what kind of tactical routines were used by Spain and France in this game? How did Deschamps and Enrique, the two first-line coaches, see each other's moves and fight each other?
Spain used the 433 formation and France 3412. Before reaching the final, Spain defeated Italy to advance to the final, and France defeated Belgium to successfully meet Spain in the final. The two teams have been in a stable state in recent times, the players have cooperated tacitly, and this UEFA Nations League final is a match between the two teams. In this campaign, Enrique sent a number of young players to serve as the starting team, the 17-year-old Barcelona youngster Garvey, with Busquets, Rodrigues as the Spanish midfielder trio, Felan Torres, Oyazaval, Garcia and other young players also got the starting opportunity. The starting line-up on the French side is almost identical to the semi-final victory over Belgium. Benzema, Mbappe and Griezmann played as the forward trident, Theo and Pavard were on the left and right sides, and Pogba and youngster Joan Ameni were paired at the back. Less than six minutes after the start of the first half, France relied on a quick counter-attack when Benzema swung a cross past Spanish goalkeeper Simon and was successfully released by opposing full-back Azpilicueta.
In the 11th and 15th minutes, Spain tested France's main goalkeeper Lloris with two fast-attacking opportunities. In the 42nd minute of the first half, French goalkeeper Varane retired injured and came off the bench at Palmecano. Shortly after the start of the second half, two French defenders, Pogba and Conde, committed consecutive fouls. It wasn't until the 64th minute that Busquets picked out a pass and Oyasaval scored, and France won the championship with two goals from Mbappe and Benzema to defeat Spain 2-2 on aggregate. According to the post-match technical statistics of this game, Spain's possession rate and dangerous attacks are higher than France's, and France's number of shots on goal and on target is ahead of Spain. In addition, the two coaches, Enrique and Deschamps, are experienced, and although the gold content of the UEFA Nations League is not as good as the European Championship and the World Cup, France and Spain are full of main players. In the first and second half, the tactical deployment of France and Spain showed obvious changes, and Enrique and Spain also saw the tricks, so the tactical deployment used by France and Spain in this game is very worth analyzing.
In the first 45 minutes, Spain was slightly at a disadvantage in the field. Because the French frontcourt attacking players are too versatile, Mbappe has speed, impact ability, Benzema can continuously control the ball, attract the attention of defenders, and Griezmann can also retreat in place to organize the catch. When necessary, Pogba and Theo were plugged in from both sides. In the first half, France counterattacked quickly, attacking the junction of Garcia and Laporte, two Spanish centre-backs. Since Spain's two flanks Azpilicueta and Alonso were not too fast to retrace, France took advantage of the rapid counter-attack opportunity in the first 45 minutes to continuously test Spain's main goalkeeper Simon. In the second half, Enrique improved the efficiency of the Spanish midfield rotation, replacing Saravia with 18-year-old Pino, changing the matador's formation from 433 to 442. After changing to 442, Spain's midfield is more flat, Busquets and Rodri take on defensive tasks, Garvey and Pino, the two young players are physically energetic and fast, strengthening the efficiency of the Matadors Army's frontcourt, and the two forwards Ofan Torres and Oyasaval will also withdraw in time.
Therefore, in the second half, Spain emphasized the efficiency of the front court, using the skillful ball control technology in the midfield to grasp the initiative on the field. Oyazaval's goal highlighted the positive effect of Enrique's tactical changes. This goal was the veteran Busquets with the ball forward to pick up the pass, before Busquets dribbled the ball was France controlled, was quickly countered after being broken by Spain, did not pass through the midfield, using the player's personal strength to quickly hit the opponent near the half, with an extremely hidden pass to successfully tear open the French backline. Enrique's use of this tactical style of play can alleviate the pressure on his own defense and reduce the risk of entanglement with France in midfield. Not only can Busquets and Rodri be liberated, But Oyasaval and Torres are active and irregular, and can effectively pose a continuous threat to France from the middle and flanks. Enrique used the existing team in his hands to teach Barcelona a good lesson and make world cup champions France play very badly, which is the success of Enrique's tactics.
After talking about Spain, let's look at the Gallic rooster France. Since winning the World Cup in 2018, France's results have slipped in recent years. The reason why France's performance has declined, I personally feel, is partly because these main players have lacked a desire for honor after winning the World Cup. On the other hand, Deschamps's tactical deployment is too rigid to keep up with the trend of the times. This summer's European Championship, France's results are very ordinary, why did the superstar France fail to achieve good results at the European Cup? The main reason is that Deschamps is too superstitious about the individual strength of the French players and neglects team cooperation. For example, in the first half of the UEFA Nations League final, France took advantage of the opportunity to quickly counter-attack and won 2-3 scoring opportunities. Although France did not seize these scoring opportunities to score goals, it really shocked Spain. In the second half, Enrique took the lead in changing the team, and after the change, Spain strengthened the possession rate in the front and successfully occupied the initiative on the field. Compared with Enrique's flexible on-the-spot deployment, Deschamps is always superstitious about the personal strength of Benzema, Mbappe and Griezmann, and France's specific offensive style of play is still that set of rapid counterattacks.
Indeed, France scored with two quick attacks, if it were not for Benzema and Mbappe's superior strength and outstanding form, almost single-handedly scoring goals, perhaps France would not have been able to beat Spain and would not have won the championship. Some fans may refute this - France has such a luxurious front, deschamps does not need to change the tactical play. In other words, France only needs to rely on the individual strength of the players to get a few counter-attack opportunities to make the opponents unable to eat and walk. I would like to ask the fans and friends - if France has been using this defensive counterattack style of play without changing the tactical details, then any team can find a solution to France's existing tactical play and staffing. Of course, this is not to say that Deschamps did not have any tactical changes in this game, in the second half he let the French players run with all their strength to try to cut off the Spanish frontcourt pass line, forcing Spain to only control the pass near his own half.
In this way, Spain and France maintain a delicate balance. Spain did not dare to press the attack, while France took advantage of the players' ability to clash with each other, looking at the opportunity and preparing to deliver a fatal blow to the opponent. However, all this is based on the individual strength of the French players, in other words, from this game alone, Deschamps's tactical deployment and on-the-spot adaptability are not as flexible as the opposite Enrique.
In addition to the referee's deliberate spoiling of the final, there are some objective factors, and France and Spain jointly contributed a high-quality match to the fans. This group of young players in Spain has strength and talent, and everyone is in one place, and the overall cooperation is more tacit. France has top players on all three fronts, and the counterattack is quite sharp, making it difficult for opponents to overwhelm. As for the reasons for Spain's defeat, the frontal defensive ability of the midfield is somewhat lacking, and Garcia and Laporte are both control-oriented centre-backs. Although Enrique adopts a defensive strategy of regional joint defense, it is still difficult to block the super personal offensive ability of Benzema and Mbappe.