Bayern Munich vs. Roma: Tactical Review of Champions League Clash

Bayern Munich sealed first place in their UEFA Champions League group on Wednesday evening with a 2-0 victory over Roma. Franck Ribery and Mario Gotze scored the goals to down Rudi Garcia's men for the second time running.

Let's take a look at how this game played out tactically.

Formations and XIs

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Bayern Munich switched away from the 3-5-2 they used against Borussia Dortmund at the weekend to a more basic 4-3-3 shape. Robert Lewandowski led the line, Franck Ribery started on the left and David Alaba moved into midfield.

Roma used their standard 4-3-3 too, with Seydou Keita retaining his place in midfield and forcing Miralem Pjanic to the bench. Alessandro Florenzi replaced Gervinho and Mattia Destro made his Champions League debut up front.

Opening Stages

The opening 20 minutes of this game were even and entertaining, with both sides intent on pressing out of possession and forcing mistakes.

Bayern forced three balls back to Roma 'keeper Lukasz Skorupski in the opening minutes, watching him punt it back upfield under pressure and create 50-50 challenges.

Some neat combination play from the Giallorossi opened up the right-hand side (in behind Juan Bernat) a few times, but hesitation held them up in the final third.

Pressing Leads to Attack vs. Defence

Mario Gotze, playing very loosely off the right wing, quickly emerged as a key man due to his ferocious pressing. He was almost solely responsible for turning the tide of the game into attack vs. defence, and after 20 minutes, Roma settled into a low block and defended like demons.

Despite the ball-playing talents of Daniele De Rossi and Co., Gotze afforded them no space to play out and set a very high line of engagement for his team-mates to hold. 

SportsNet

De Rossi, Radja Nainggolan, Pjanic and Keita combined to lose the ball five times in Gotze's "area," and all were sourced from his pressing and harrying. Turning defence into attack so high up afforded Lewandowski the chance to find space in the box to take a quick pass, and Bayern's attacking fortunes became dependent on a good, quick decisions from him in the box before the Roma hordes descended and closed him down.

WhoScored.com

Bayern found some success in moving the ball across the box as challenges flew in, with Bernat coming close (but for a last-ditch block) and Ribery finally netting on the counter-attack.

No Adjustment

Rudi Garcia made few adjustments in the second half other than dropping his line a little deeper, defending almost on the edge of the box for long spells.

We saw Borussia Dortmund come close to success in this fashion by using Shinji Kagawa as a conduit for the ball during counters, then springing runners into space, but Roma's decision-making and profligacy meant they couldn't find a way back into the game.

Destro and Juan Iturbe were not their usual cool selves, and Nainggolan flunked a golden chance one vs. one with Manuel Neuer, failing to bring the ball down in order to shoot when through on goal.

Bayern dominated the ball and controlled the flow of the game, totaling 70.3 per cent possession, per WhoScored.com, and grabbed the killer goal via Gotze.

Quickfire Conclusions

• Neuer deserves credit; a double save late on kept Roma from pulling one back.
• Roma learned their lessons from the 7-1 defeat, but the breakthrough came off three passes from a goal kick. Beautiful quick passing gave the defence no chance.
• Hesitancy in the forward line cost Roma the chances they received. Bayern will always give you one or two, but you have to take them.

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