Chelsea, Real Madrid provide latest twist in football's tactical cold war

Real Madrid’s 4-0 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League is the latest twist in football’s version of the tactical cold-war: pressing and possession based patient attacking vs collective defending and swift counter-attacking.

Both sides have had their victories — Pep Guardiola winning 14 titles with his preferred pressing and possession style at Barcelona and Jose Mourinho mastering it’s opposite when Inter Milan won the Champions League in 2010 (beating Barcelona en route to the cup).

There’s a third-front too — we’ve seen Brendan Rodgers and Diego Simeone use the best of both systems — pressing and counter-attacking merging to form Liverpool’s and Atletico’s at times devastating tactics — but both came a cropper against Mourinho’s deep-sitting Chelsea in recent fixtures (Chelsea came away with a draw from Atletico and beat Liverpool 2-0 in the Premier League).

And just when it seemed that Guardiola’s Bayern, who crushed opponents on their way to the Bundesliga title and Champions League semis, were again going to show the world how to play football — they met a Real Madrid side which provided the ultimate example on how to beat dominant opponents. Because eventually, it’s the goals that count; not the passes, not the tackles, not the number of clearances and shots.

But is this the end of a system? Is it the death of tiki-taka? That would be too presumptuous to say based a poor season for Barcelona and one loss for Bayern.

Carlo Ancelotti echoed this when he said ‘it was just a win, we blocked their game really well’ and Simeone has backed the approach of ‘winning is everything’ — and it would be quite foolish to write off one of the most advanced systems of play after a couple of defeats.

The difference in where a team’s strength also decides how the football looks on the pitch. Both Chelsea and Real had 31 per cent possession in their wins over Liverpool and Bayern respectively — but as the latter is hailed for their destruction of European champions, the former is shown disdain. What must really be appreciated is how both teams have shown a way to break the best, they have exposed a vulnerability. But for this, you just don’t need the template, you also need the players.

The Blues have a fantastic defence made up of John Terry, Gary Cahill, David Luiz, Branislav Ivanovic and Cesar Azpilicueta — paired with the blend of a hard-working midfield: Ramires, Nemanja Matic, Eden Hazard, Oscar, Andre Schurrle and Willian. This sort of team allows Mourinho to win even without the most lethal strike-force. Where Mourinho’s magic works is that he can achieve a ‘parking-the-bus’ win even without his first choice XI (as was the case vs Liverpool).

Madrid on the other hand have a combination of fairly good defenders in Sergio Ramos, Pepe and Rafael Varane — but more than make up for the lack of world-class quality at the back with their forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Angel di Maria and Karim Benzema.

You may be a proponent of possession-based fast attacking moves with lots of interchanging or somebody who likes to see teams defend well and protect their narrow lead. You may like a swift and punishing counter-attacking team or a balanced side who can do a little bit of all this. Heck, you may support a team which pumps in 80 crosses and still doesn’t win.

You may side with one philosophy, but Real and Chelsea, in the space of 10 days, have shown that ugly, quick and lethal is as good a way to win when compared to the famous tiki-taka.

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