How did Real Madrid improve defensively
To find a La Liga season where Real Madrid conceded 25 goals or less, you would have to go all the way back to 1983 when it was an eighteen team league. This season — in a twenty team league — they matched that record while keeping a clean sheet in half of their games.
When Zinedine Zidane was asked whether the team should be more attacking his response was “There’s a need for balance between defence and attack. Everyone can think what they want about our performances.” His comments proved him right when Real Madrid raised their 34th title after ten straight wins.
The pandemic break might have helped Zidane, especially after being exposed by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the first leg of their Champions League tie. He had more time to continue improving his defensive structure while filling in the holes that were apparent in the Champions League tie.
Individual performance shouldn’t be forgotten as well, whether it’s any of the outfield players or Thibaut Courtois. The collective wouldn’t function without the individuals forming it, and the individuals wouldn’t function without the collective.
It’s a Yin and Yang thing. But here we are going to focus on how the team operates defensively to reach those numbers.
The Diamond Press
Real Madrid’s midfield of Toni Kroos and Luka Modric has been the basis to their success during the last decade. Listing the trophies they won wouldn’t be enough to acknowledge their feat. Continuing their achievements in this Real Madrid side, they act as the main pressers in Zidane’s pressing scheme.
Federico Valverde is the player pressing here to the top left of the picture, but in Real Madrid’s standard 4–3–3 that would have been Modric.
During the press the shape morphs from a 4–3–3 into a wide 4–3–1–2 with Kroos or Modric pressing one of the center backs as Karim Benzema presses the other. Then the one behind the two, whether it’s Modric or Kroos, presses the opponent’s midfielder who is dropping to help in the build up.
The wingers meanwhile drop to be either side of the diamond while Real Madrid are pressing. However, they aren’t too narrow to keep tabs of the opponent’s full backs who might be an outlet for the opponent as Kroos, Modric and Benzema press forward.the
The pressing scheme implemented mainly aims at forcing the opponent into a long ball which Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane and Casemiro are prepared for. Here, Benzema’s angle of pressing denies a pass into the other center back while Modric and Kroos are marking the players moving to assist the build up. Out wide, it’s Rodrygo and Marcos Asensio holding their positions to prevent a ball into the wing area.
This scheme helped Real Madrid defensively by forcing the opponent’s hands during build up, but it also factored into goals. The 1–2 pressing shape here is denying Sofian Chakla from any progression option, so he either has to pass backwards to his keeper or sideways to Pau Torres who can be pressed by Benzema with Kroos moving forward to press Sofian.
Sofian stuttered as Moi Gomez went inside to present himself as a passing option. Rodrygo followed knowing that Dani Carvajal is present out wide to protect the right side if the ball was switched to Xavier Quintilla. In case Sofian plays the ball centrally, Moi Gomez would be pressed by Casemiro and Rodrygo.
He does and Casemiro intercepts the ball with Modric picking it up. Now the situation becomes a 3 v 2 with Modric, Benzema and Kroos attacking Villarreal’s center back. Modric then plays Benzema who scores the opener.
A similar scenario can be seen against Alaves. Kroos and Benzema are pressing the center backs as Modric is lingering behind the player dropping to assist the build up. Benzema’s angle of run forces to the goalkeeper to go long. A long ball which is anticipated by Varane and is the beginning of Real Madrid’s second goal.
Rest-defence
Watching the Manchester City game, the spaces behind Real Madrid’s midfield is vast and the positioning of the midfielders isn’t helping either. They were caught up the field during defensive transitions multiple times.
This presented a huge problem as the full backs overloaded as well, leaving a gap between Real Madrid’s center backs and the rest of the team.
Rest-defence is how the team positions while attacking to prepare for the defensive transition should that occur. Lately, Zidane has been keeping both Modric and Kroos behind the ball as the full backs pushed forward. Maintaining a good rest-defence in case the ball was intercepted.
The full backs can provide unpredictability going forward but it’s important to cover the defence by positioning correctly while you are still in possession of the ball. We can see here Ferlan Mendy galloping through midfield searching for his second goal against Granada, and Carvajal at the top of your screen making a run forward as well. The important positions here however are that of Kroos and Valverde. The German is protecting the left back zone while Valverde is by the far touchline to protect the right back zone.
The positioning behind the ball also helps when the ball is lost centrally. Modric and Kroos could see the events unfurling in-front of them and decide whether to press or it’s more valuable to keep their positions.
In this example they collapsed, regaining the ball and denying Alaves from an offensive transition.
Modric in particular was usually the one ahead of the ball as Kroos was deep to control the game from the left side. Yet it’s noticeable how deep Modric positioning has become, at times in line with Casemiro and Kroos ahead of Real Madrid’s center backs in a 2–3 shape. Here you can spot him to the far left of the snippet in line with Casemiro in case Alaves start a counter attack.
The rest-defence helps Real Madrid against counter-attacks. Being prepared and alert in their positioning while going forward means that once they lose the ball there are still numbers behind it. Modric and Casemiro here are forming a 3–2 shape alongside Ramos, Eder Militao and Carvajal, protecting the central area and the wide lanes as Athletic Bilbao are starting their offensive transition.
An example of the awareness of the players can be seen in Mendy’s goal against Granada. Valverde, Casemiro and Modric are pushing forward meaning that if they lose the ball Granada can be in a 3 v 3 match-up centrally against Kroos and the center-backs.
When the ball moves up the field, Casemiro continues his runs but Valverde recognizes that if Real Madrid lose the ball now they will only have 4 players behind the ball against Granada’s.
He takes a look over his shoulder, sees the situation and keeps his position instead of making a run into the central space. Real Madrid scored from this opportunity but had it been a counter attack against them, they were safe because Valverde holding his position meant that it was a 5 v 3 in defence.
Covering
“They press so high, we saw it with the center-backs and there was space outside, I watched the most amount of matches of Real Madrid and their defensive game was different. We played without a proper striker because of the way they defend — they are so aggressive though the middle.”
Those were Guardiola’s remarks after the Champions League game and they still hold, but the new addition is how the collective reacts to the aggressiveness of the center backs. The midfielders, mainly Casemiro, drop to fill any gap when Varane or Ramos move forward.
On the ball the center backs occasionally advance with the ball, leaving a gap in the first line. Casemiro regularly drops to fill in that gap while the center back is still in possession of the ball.
Varane’s forward movement here helps Real Madrid’s left side and Casemiro drops into his position even before Real Madrid lose the ball, anticipating the worst case scenario.
Ramos as well whose surges forward has been a trademark lately. They have been effective in surprising opponents, but behind all these goals is a midfield who are ready to drop and sacrifice. In this scenario, Ramos would be much more dangerous than Casemiro or Modric inside the box. So he pushes forward as both drop to cover.
Off the ball they are as aggressive. Both center backs move out of their position to face the opponents instead of waiting. Casemiro’s role is to fill in the gap while Varane and Ramos are breathing down the opponents’ necks.
With Varane out of position, Casemiro manages to intercept a ball into Darwin Machis. Had Casemiro not been there, Machis would have had a clear opportunity on goal.
Ramos epitomizes this approach of defending and can be seen multiple times in similar positions. Here it’s actually smarter for him to keep his position while Casemiro drops, as Ramos is nearer to the ball centrally.
That happens and Ramos intercepts the ball only for an earlier foul to deny Real Madrid the ball. Had this been a single image you would have thought that Casemiro is a normal center back in a back four, that’s how good his covering was.
It also appears in the goals where Ramos moves forward and attacks. In the build up to the dubious penalty Ramos got against Villarreal, Casemiro was dropping in case Ramos couldn’t retrieve the ball.
Ramos intercepted it and moved forward to get a penalty from where Real Madrid doubled their lead. All the meanwhile, Casemiro was protecting his position.
These are only parts of the defensive structure and it’s intriguing how it all works together.
The pressing part (yellow) forced Bilbao here to go wide. Carvajal moved inside to press the Bilbao player moving inside to present himself as a passing option which led to Militao moving to the right back position to track Inaki Williams. This leads us to the covering part (red) where Casemiro drops to fill Militao’s position.
Williams is tracked by Militao and has no options for progression before Rodrygo and Militao collapse to retrieve the ball. Covering all of that is Casemiro who is acting like a center back next to Ramos.
The deep positioning of Valverde and Kroos here will prove effective once Real Madrid lose the ball.
Valverde (top right of the snippet) is in a position to protect the right back area as Granada attack from the left side.
This might leave the center empty as Casemiro drops further back. Yet that doesn’t happen as Carvajal moves inside to defend the midfield. The rest-defence helped to cover the right back zone once Real Madrid lost the ball and the covering of Carvajal complemented it by protecting the area in-front of the penalty box.
The race to the league title has finished with Real Madrid shipping only 25 goals all season long. Now, eyes will be shifting towards the Champions League. Can Real Madrid’s defensive structure be the key to their comeback against Manchester City?
