Malaga 0-0 Borussia Dortmund: When a strong offense meets a great defence
Jeremy Toulalan of Malaga CF duels for the ball with Ilkay Gundogan (L) Marco Reus (C) and Lukasz Piszczek of Borussia Dortmund during their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal first leg match at La Rosaleda Stadium on April 3, 2013 in Malaga, Spain. (Getty Images)
Malaga negotiated a 0-0 draw with Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal at the Andulasian club’s home. While a scoreless draw in the away leg is hardly a bad result for Dortmund, considering the number of wasted chances, the world famous anecdote about German efficiency starts coming into question.
In a game of the much hyped Dortmund attack against the very steady Spanish defence, Malaga perhaps edged out on the pre-match objective of not conceding any away goals.
Line-ups:
Malaga (4-4-1-1): Willy Caballero; Jesús Gámez, Martin Demichelis, Weligton (C), Antunes; Joaquín, Jeremy Toulalan, Manuel Iturra, Isco; Julio Baptista; Javier Saviola.
Pellegrini fielded an expected Malaga team with Saviola on top and Julio Baptista behind him. Jeremy Toulalan and Manuel Iturra formed the central midfield for the hosts.
Borussia Dortmund (4-2-3-1): Roman Weidenfeller; Marcel Schmelzer, Felipe Santana, Neven Suboti?, Lukas Piszczek; Sebastian Kehl, Ilkay Gündo?an; Kevin Großkreutz, Mario Götze, Marco Reus; Robert Lewandowski.
BVB had to play without defensive stalwart Mats Hummels and midfield play-maker Jakub Blaszczykowski. Felipe Santana and Kevin Großkreutz came into the side as their respective replacements. Sebastian Kehl was surprisingly preferred to Sven Bender in midfield, with Nuri Sahin also relegated to the bench in place of Ilkay Gundogan.
Attack vs. Defence:
This match was a straight battle of philosophies between two very different managers – Jurgen Klopp and Manuel Pellegrini. Klopp advocates a free flowing counterattacking football that involves a lot of high pressing and dynamic positioning on the attacks. Pellegrini on the other hand instills a strong defensive discipline, where the main objective is to completely contain the opposition attack and then look for their play-maker to facilitate counters.
Pellegrini in his pre-match press conference stressed the importance of not conceding the away goal, which at the time seemed quite unrealistic given the German side’s attacking prowess. Teams like Real Madrid, Manchester City, Ajax and Shakhtar had tried and failed to do the same against such an attack.
Malaga’s strategy:
The Malaga back four was the predictable quartet of Jesus Gamez, Demichelis, Weligton and Vitorino Antunes. Their positioning proved to be the damper for the Dortmund attack.
A glance at their positioning reveals a dynamic quartet with the two full backs in very advanced positions. Their advanced positions were higher up the pitch than even their two holding midfielders – Iturra and Toulalan, both of whom added a sense of congestion in their defensive midfield combined with their two centre backs.
Usually, Reus and Großkreutz play narrow, which leads to good link-up play with Lewandowski. Sadly for Dortmund, this was not the case as their narrow positioning allowed Malaga to defend deep in their midfield. In such situations, the Dortmund fullbacks tend to provide the required width, but without Blaszczykowski to combine with, both Schmelzer and Pisczeck remained pinned behind.
Luck:
Even after choosing all the tactics, every football manager always hopes for that one precious deciding factor – luck. Add a bit of grit and goalkeeping heroics and you get the perfect blend for a surprise result, which is what happened in the end. Demichelis played as a player possessed, as he stood rock solid in defence, going for all 50-50 balls and positioning himself perfectly. Gotze, who could have scored twice on a normal day, failed to do that this particular match. Lewandowski’s miss early in the second half summed up their match perfectly and as Klopp later said, “they lacked the killer instinct.”
Second Leg:
Malaga’s delight at holding the draw 0-0 must have been tempered by the suspension of Weligton and Iturra, both of whom could have been crucial for the second leg. Brazilian Weligton is a hugely experienced defender and Chilean Iturra’s tireless defensive work helps create the space and freedom for Jeremy Toulalan to dictate play in the middle.
Dortmund, on the other hand, would be hoping that they do not have to rue the missed goals which could have effectively killed the tie. With the match as it is now, both the sides have an equal chance, although the pundits would still peg Dortmund as the clear favourites.