From The Vault: Ancelotti’s hybrid midfield makes him dream
The 2007 Champions League semi-final between Manchester United and AC Milan is fondly remembered because of Kaka’s goals in the first leg. Especially the first one where he played the ball over Gabriel Heinze’s head then nipped a header to put the ball past Patrice Evra who collided with Heinze.
Wayne Rooney struck twice after that to give Manchester United a one goal lead going into the second leg. In Milan, a win with more than a goal would mean Carlo Ancelotti’s side would be given a rematch against Liverpool after the 2005 nightmare.
Both teams continued with similar personnel to the first leg. The changes were minor, Kakha Kaladze and Filippo Inzaghi replaced Paolo Maldini and Alberto Gilardino for Milan. Meanwhile, Manchester United’s only change was the return of Nemanja Vidic instead of the suspended Evra.
The key to Milan’s approach was Clarence Seedorf. The Dutchman played a dual role, adding an extra player between the lines and dropping to protect the wing area. Milan’s shape was more of a hybrid between 4–4–1–1 out of possession and 4–3–2–1 in possession where Seedorf went inside. On the other side, Sir Alex Ferguson played a 4–2–3–1 before switching in the last 10 minutes of the first half.
Offensively, Milan were searching for Seedorf and Kaka between the lines. The trio of Andrea Pirlo, Massimo Ambrosini and Gennaro Gattuso were aggressive on the ball forcing United’s trio of Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher to face them. The result of that is freeing Seedorf and Kaka.
With Seedorf and Kaka free, United’s defence was dragged out of position. In this attack, Heinze was in a central midfield position leaving the whole left flank vulnerable. This wasn’t helped of course by United’s approach of a gambling winger where Cristiano Ronaldo is relieved of his defensive duties.
Heinze was caught out by Seedorf’s pass which was exactly in the space he left. Kaka was on it and eventually his cross-shot across the goal went out. Heinze was completely lost after moving into a central midfield position he’s unaware of.
Kaka was free throughout the first half, lingering behind United’s midfield. Once Milan’s midfield trio managed to slip a penetrative pass, Kaka was free to do what he wanted. Heinze here again in a weird position trying to contain Kaka, leaving the wing area completely free for Oddo as Ronaldo doesn’t track back.
The free reign Kaka had, gave him a lot of space in midfield and if anyone had ever seen Kaka on the ball, you wouldn’t want to give him space. This time the Brazilian played it wide to Marek Jankulovski whose cross was too strong for Inzaghi in the middle.
Seedorf’s darts inside to act as a second number 10 alongside presented many opportunities like this one. Fletcher who’s deep doesn’t know whether to keep tabs on Seedorf or shift to Kaka. Nevertheless, you can spot a wild Oddo in the bottom of the snippet.
After Kaka recieves the ball, Heinze goes out to close him down as Fletcher is too far. As stated before, this leaves huge space out wide and Oddo benefits from this space.
The domino effect was that Vidic had to leave his central position to face the right back. The hole he created in the center of the defense proved costly as Kaka managed to get a shot on target from Oddo’s cross.
Kaka’s positioning was causing problems for United, mainly because the midfield were afraid of leaving Pirlo and Gattuso unattained. Seedorf’s darts inside next to Kaka added more problems.
As Alessandro Nesta was getting to ready to make a pass, Vidic moved out of position to anticipate a pass into the free Kaka. Seedorf embraced the number 10 role and made a run into the space created by Vidic’s movement.
Seedorf’s run attracted both Fletcher and Vidic. Meaning that Kaka who was still keeping his position was still free. Seedorf headed it back to Kaka who then blasted it past Edwin Van der Sar to put Milan ahead in the tie.
Pirlo, Seedorf, Gattuso and Ambrosini’s positioning not only allowed a 4 v 3 in midfield. It freed Kaka completely and if United had to contain him, then one of the defenders had to be out of position.
The midfield battle could be seen here. Scholes, Carrick and Fletcher are respectively keeping their focus on Pirlo, Gattuso and Ambrosini. Seedorf is going inside from the left side and Kaka is free. Here, Seedorf’s first touch fails him but had he controlled that he would have partnered up with Kaka to wreak havoc.
Seedorf’s dual role paid dividends in the end. After Vidic’s slip and Pirlo’s cross, the ball falls for Seedorf in-front of the penalty area where his offensive position means he’s ready to finish. 2–0 Milan and the San Siro is jumping.
Manchester United’s switch to 4–4–1–1 further increased the gap in midfield. Seedorf wouldn’t need to drift from outside to inside, he could simply stay inside as United had a player less in the center with Fletcher going out wide — probably to track Seedorf’s runs from outside to inside.
Seedorf could create freely. Not only that he could play Kaka who’s at that time, the best player in the world in terms of gliding past defenders. Seedorf chose to play Oddo out wide. The right back then crossed to Inzaghi, whose shot just went wide of the post.
Defensively, Seedorf dropped to the left wing to form a flat four midfield against United. This made sense because United’s main threat was the wing area when they were in possession.
Seedorf and Gattuso defended high to prevent Manchester United from building through the wing area. Denying the ball from reaching Giggs and Ronaldo
The Manchester United defence couldn’t progress through the wings with the pressure from Seedorf and Gattuso. They either recirculated the ball in a U-shape or played a long ball.
Even before the full backs had received the ball, Seedorf and Gattuso would press.
After United’s switch to 4–4–1–1, Milan’s midfield still kept their flat shape. Protecting the wing area. Here, Ronaldo’s drift from center to left tricks Oddo, but Gattuso is alert to his zone and retrieves the ball.
It didn’t matter who dropped as long as the wings were defended. Here Kaka is occupying the left side because Seedorf is behind Inzaghi.
Another example is when Kaka found himself inside and United where circulating the ball to the right side. He immediately sprinted to that side to defend against John O’Shea. Kaka’s presence prevents the pass into Ronaldo and O’shea pass down the wing is intercepted by Jankulovski.
Eventually, Alberto Gilardino made it 3–0 in the second half. Milan were heading to Athens to face Liverpool, once again.
“It was an evening of dreams. To play the way we did in the first half is a dream for a coach — it was perfect football.” Ancelotti said after the game. A dream it was, and the dream continued as AC Milan were crowned European Champions for the 7th time in their history.
