In the Zone: Tottenham 0-0 Milan performance analysis

A goalless draw had the pulses of AC Milan supporters racing this week as it earned the seven-time winners a place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2012.

In this analysis brought to you by FedEx, the UEFA Technical Observer Panel shine a light on the Italian side's defensive excellence in Wednesday’s stalemate at Tottenham Hotspur, which secured a 1-0 aggregate success.

Player of the Match: Fiyako Tomori

The former Chelsea defender shone on his return to London, earning rich praise from UEFA's Technical Observer Panel which said: "It was a solid performance in a defensively strong Milan side. They gave up very few clear-cut chances, with Tomori the most outstanding factor in that back line. He won duels at crucial moments and also pressed forward aggressively when needed."

Team formations

Tottenham

Antonio Conte's men had a 1-3-4-2-1 set-up, morphing into a 1-5-2-3, with three at the back and the wing-backs pushing up. The role of the two wing-backs varied slightly as Emerson (12) at times played as a full-back or inside as midfielder whereas Dejan Kulusevski (14) stayed wide. Higher up, Ivan Perišić (21) is a player who often looks to stretch defenders though he and Son Heung-Min (7) could be seen working inside on Wednesday, looking to make runs behind for Kane to feed them. Yet as the video analysis highlights, Milan’s defensive work meant there were few such passes to feed off and both players were pushed wide by the opposition.

As for the centre of the pitch, Tottenham's two holding midfielders, Oliver Skipp (4) and Pierre-Emile Højberg (5) were slow at times in passing forward and found themselves forced back. With Milan using a mid/low block, more speed and incisiveness were needed to trouble the visitors, especially in the first half.

Milan

Throughout the group stage, Milan set up with a back four yet Pioli used a back three for the first leg and at the Tottenham Stadium on Wednesday night their 1-5-3-2 formation without the ball was fundamental. Pioli spoke afterwards of his team doing the "dirty work" and this began from the front where Olivier Giroud (9) and Rafael Leão (17) pressed the three Spurs centre-backs looking to force the ball to Ben Davies for Brahim Díaz (10) to press him from midfield (see Clip 3 above). If in a free role when attacking, Díaz would leave his zone to press Davies and, along with Milan's two holding midfielders, read the game well, knowing when to go forward or move across to keep the spaces tight for Spurs.

The back three of Pierre Kalulu (20), Malick Thiaw (28) and Tomori (23) marked the Spurs front three and the UEFA observer noted how they did not just stay in their zones but pressed forward when needed – as seen in the video clips of Tomori above. Kane was marked closely by Thiaw and this meant the Tottenham captain was often restricted to working the ball sideways rather than feeding runners.

From an attacking perspective, Leão was a particular threat when space opened up in the second half, while Sandro Tonali (8) caught the observer's eye too for the way he was always available to receive the ball and connected with Díaz and his strikers. With space opening up in the second half, they broke dangerously and had their chances, finishing with an xG of 1.42 to Spurs' 0.47.

Features

To put Milan's defensive efforts in this campaign into context, this was the first time they had not conceded a goal in a two-legged Champions League tie since a round of 16 meeting with Celtic in 2006/07. You have to go back even further, meanwhile – to 2004/05 – for the last time they achieved a run of clean sheets longer than their current sequence of four in a row.

For the UEFA Observer Panel, the pivotal points about their success on Wednesday concerned this defensive rigour, notably the way they blocked the central channels to prevent those quick combinations between Kane and Son which can be so productive for Tottenham.

When Spurs won at Marseille in their last game of their group stage, the Observer Panel highlighted the north London side's counterattacking threat but Milan largely negated this, working hard to get back into shape and limiting their hosts to two attempts on goal – the last a Kane header following a free-kick in the 93rd minute. This collective determination was highlighted by the fact they won more of their duels – a 52.2% success rate – than any other club in Champions League action this week.

The video above demonstrates in detail their impressive work. Clip 1 shows clearly their 1-5-2-3 set-up without the ball and highlights how the Rossoneri players were ready to jump and block the passing lanes – in this case, Kalulu stepping out to join Díaz in denying space to Son. Clip 2 offers something similar, with Milan players on their toes, shutting down space and forcing Emerson into a wasted pass.

In Clip 3, Giroud's pressing from the front forces the ball out to the left where Davies is closed down by Díaz and has only limited passing options in his vicinity with a Milan player on the shoulder of each of his team-mates. Thus Milan force the ball back and goalkeeper Fraser Forster eventually kicks it long.

From Clip 4 onwards, the analysis centres on the specific contribution of Tomori, starting with his penalty-box defending against Kane as he gets close and denies him a clear sight of goal. (For the record, Højberg's follow-up strike, saved well by Mike Maignan in the 64th minute, was Spurs' first serious effort on target.)

Clip 5 shows Tomori's awareness in the penalty box, meanwhile. As the cross is headed out he immediately looks around, scanning the area for white shirts. He is then on his toes and perfectly placed when Skipp recycles the threat with a low centre.

Clip 6 offers another example of the England international's reading of the game as he steps in to reach a ball meant for Perišić. Former England defender and Champions League winner Rio Ferdinand added his voice to the chorus of praise for Tomori afterwards when specifically singling out his "willingness to step in and make things uncomfortable for forwards". To underline the point, Tomori won all three of his tackles on Wednesday night.

The last three clips showcase his prowess further. First we see him controlling the space both in front and behind as he steps up to press, then darts back before cutting out the danger near the touchline. His speed is even more visible in the next sequence where he tries to press, then recovers to control the space behind, beating Kulusevki for pace.

And finally to Clip 9 where Tomori marries speed and awareness to deal with a potentially dangerous situation with Kane unmarked and aiming to release Son behind the backline. The video pauses to show him glance over his shoulder at the position of Son as he drops back to make sure he is not caught out by the Korean’s run behind. His fast legs do the rest.

Coaches' assessments

Antonio Conte, Spurs coach: "I don't think we played with too much patience in the first half. Our objective was to be aggressive, to go there and try to put pressure. We tried to do it but every time we go to press, the ball goes to the keeper and the keeper was really good at finding the right solution.

"In this game our personality has to be much more. We need to be more dangerous offensively. Defensively, we did well defending high against Giroud and Leão. Giroud is really difficult to mark – he's a point of reference, he stops the ball and then Leão attacks and if he has 50m in front of him, he's really dangerous."

Stefano Pioli, Milan coach: "I think we played well in defence. They have some top-quality players [and] we were able to win the majority of our duels. We were very compact thanks to our attacking players, our midfield and our defence. We didn't give our opponent much to play with.

"We played with personality which is the most important thing. We tried to keep the ball flowing, we tried to create danger, we defended as a team."