Brighton coach Roberto De Zerbi gave a detailed tactical analysis of the Champions League Final, explaining how Inter’s Simone Inzaghi and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola tried to surprise each other.
The match was a hard-fought one at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, ultimately decided only by one goal, scored by Rodri bending the finish around defenders into the bottom corner.
The Nerazzurri had the chances to equalise, but Federico Dimarco hit the crossbar, while Ederson denied Romelu Lukaku and Robin Gosens.
“I think Inter played a perfect game defensively and attacked too,” De Zerbi told Bobo TV, the podcast run by Christian Vieri.
“It is difficult for everyone when there are so few spaces. Manchester City already seemed tired in the FA Cup Final against Manchester United and certainly did not play well.”
Many had expected this to be a domination from Guardiola’s men, but Inzaghi largely managed to muzzle their threat, particularly Erling Haaland.
“Stones is usually wide of Rodri, but he didn’t do that this time, he went further up and put Gundogan behind Brozovic. Putting Stones there was to create the space for Haaland.
“De Bruyne played on the left to draw Darmian out of position. That was the problem, in my view, because there wasn’t much space to get the service through,” explained De Zerbi.
“Inter are another great team, they played very well. People talk about Haaland, but if you want a second striker for two upfront, you won’t find better at making the diagonal runs than Lautaro Martinez. Indeed, Guardiola said that he expected Inter to sit deeper than they actually did.”
De Zerbi and his Brighton have impressed in the Premier League this season, securing Europa League qualification and earning praise for their tactics.
“Playing against a team that effectively has five at the back is always a problem, but that doesn’t mean you can’t win. Darmian was taking on De Bruyne, Bastoni came out to meet Stones, so the only City player who was truly free in the first half was Gundogan, but they were still too close together. It ended up being five pairs of players and the spaces got reduced.”
The statistics from the Champions League Final were ultimately rather even, with 57 per cent possession for City, but 14 attempts on goal to seven for Inter.
Ederson also made five saves and Andre Onana just three.