Napoli 2-1 Borussia Dortmund: Tactical Analysis

By sheer audacity or great optimism, Napoli’s clash against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League’s group of death match was certainly dubbed as the match of the game week. And boy did it live up to its billing, however marred with controversies. The pragmatic vs. the visionary. As the two master tacticians went head to head for the first time, it was certainly a Rafa Benitez vs. Jürgen Klopp clash from the very beginning.

Both the teams lined up in their much fancied 4-2-3-1 formation. Miguel Britos was preferred over captain Paolo Cannavaro. Christian Maggio and Juan Zuniga started in the wingback roles for the Partenopei, while Lorenzo Insigne was given the nod ahead of Goran Pandev. Jürgen Klopp, however, decided to go with Jakub Blaszczykowski’s experience on the wing over Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s youthful, goal scoring exuberance. Kevin Grosskreutz started in right back in place of the injured Lukas Pizczeck.

Benitez’s philosophy and approach to the game

Well, what wasn’t surprising was the way Napoli came out of their strides. Lorenzo Insigne showed flashes of brilliance with quick feet, unsettling Dortmund’s right side and taking advantage of Grosskreutz’s sloppiness. Even though Dortmund’s midfield was advised to get close to Marek Hamsik, the Italian side’s two wing backs in Maggio and Zuniga gave the German side very little time on the ball (justified by Maggio’s heat map from the first half).

Christian Maggio: Action Heat Map via squawka.com

However, the first real chance of the game fell to Robert Lewandowski, who found himself one-on-one with Reina, but the Spaniard won the duel with his left foot. Dortmund showed signs of coming back into the game with their own midfield finding space between the channels, but two minutes later, Napoli were ahead. Just shows why not taking your chances can be the difference on the night.

The first goal via poor marking from Dortmund

The poor marking that led to Napoli’s opener

There is always a saying in the coaching manuals of any manager to his striker, “Get rid of the centre backs and try to work spaces to contest with the full backs”. That’s exactly how Higuain’s opener came.

Mats Hummels was caught napping trying to mark Raul Albiol, who was quite inactive. Higuain lost Schmelzer and rose highest to a well worked out corner by Insigne and Zuniga to nod his team ahead, much to the joy of the home faithful.

There would be questions on why Klopp had handed the initiative to the home side by asking one of his full backs to mark the lone striker. But what followed next was out of the blue, Jürgen Klopp looking like a devil with his tummy empty, receiving a straight red for threatening the fourth official.

If that wasn’t enough, Roman Weidenfeller was shown a straight red as well for using his hands outside his area to deny Higuain in first-half added time.