In the Zone: Man City 7-0 Leipzig performance analysis

Manchester City swept into the last eight of the UEFA Champions League for the sixth successive season this week by putting seven goals past Leipzig.

On an evening of milestones for Erling Haaland, the 22-year-old struck five times to help City earn their joint-biggest victory in European competition. In this article brought to you by FedEx, the UEFA Technical Observer panel analyses the key tactical features of a ruthless display of attacking power from the English champions on Tuesday.

Goals

1-0: Erling Haaland (22pen)

After a penalty awarded for handball against Benjamin Henrichs, Haaland's low kick into the bottom-left corner had too much pace for Janis Blaswich, despite the goalkeeper diving the right way. For Haaland, it is now six out of six from the penalty spot in a City shirt.

2-0: Erling Haaland (24)

On a night marked also by the driving runs of Kevin De Bruyne, the Belgian made a big contribution to this goal, coming inside to pick up a Haaland knockdown and thrash a shot against the underside of the crossbar from beyond the D. As the ball bounced up off the turf, Haaland adjusted to its flight, stretching his neck muscles to nod it in.

3-0: Erling Haaland (45+2)

Haaland completed the fifth hat-trick of his City career by bundling the ball in after Rúben Dias' header from a Jack Grealish corner had hit the post and run across the goalline. Amadou Haidara got there first but his attempted clearance hit the incoming Haaland and went in.

4-0: İlkay Gündoğan (49)

The midfielder's first Champions League goal since this corresponding week in 2021 followed a good passing move with City developing the play across the pitch (see Clip 6 in the video above). Gündoğan capped it by wrong-footing Haidara and arrowing a precise low shot into the far corner.

5-0: Erling Haaland (53)

The Norwegian struck from close range with a sweeping left-foot shot following another goalmouth scramble. From De Bruyne's deep corner, Bernardo Silva headed the ball back to the near post where Haaland's header was saved by Blaswich. The goalkeeper also stopped Manuel Akanji's follow-up but was helpless when Haaland pounced on the loose ball.

6-0: Erling Haaland (57)

This was City's third goal of the night following a corner – taking their total for the campaign to five – and it came when a short routine led to Riyad Mahrez whipping in a low ball through a thicket of legs that Blaswich saved, only for Haaland, this time with a first-time effort with his right foot, to bury the rebound. From a Leipzig perspective, another goal conceded from their second-phase defending of corners.

7-0: Kevin De Bruyne (90+2)

De Bruyne was the game's outstanding creative player and he capped a fabulous individual display by curling a right-foot shot into the top corner from outside the box, taking his season's tally of goals to six.

Player of the Match: Erling Haaland

With his five goals, the 22-year-old became both the youngest player and the quickest (25 matches) to reach the 30-goal mark in the Champions League. He also moved on to 39 goals from 36 games across all competitions for City this term, breaking a 94-year club record for most goals in a season (and it's only mid-March).

His excellent movement is highlighted in the video above but it was his "ruthless finishing" which stood out for the UEFA match observer after a night in which all eight of his goal attempts were on target. "He arrived in the right positions and generally the quality of his finishing, and adapted techniques to finish with one touch, was outstanding," said the observer.

Team formations

Man City

City lined up nominally in a 4-3-3 but formed different patterns in and out of possession. By way of example, the match observer noted their switch to a 3-2-4-1 in possession whereby right-back John Stones (5) moved into midfield to create a double pivot alongside Rodri (6) and City built up with the remaining three defenders. The impact of this movement by Stones is explained below.

As the formation shows, both wingers – Bernardo Silva (20) and Grealish (10) – stayed out on the touchline as City stretched the opposition with their positional discipline. According to the observer, City's positioning was a crucial factor also in their outstanding counterpressure as – with help from the fact they built attacks patiently – they usually had numbers close together.

Leipzig

This 4-2-3-1 set-up shows the formation that Leipzig used to press, with Emil Forsberg (10) and, at times, Timo Werner (11) stepping back to deal with City's double pivot by front-screening, then stepping back up to press the centre-backs from this start position. Wingers Dominik Szoboszlai (17) and Konrad Laimer (27) defended narrow to try to stop passes into City's advanced midfield players; at times they pushed up to press the wide defenders when City created a back three to build.

In possession, the Bundesliga side built up in a 4-2-2-2 while they defended mainly in a 4-4-2 mid-block, trying to get pressure from their forward players on to City. They began the game by playing out confidently yet, as the contest unfolded, struggled to progress the ball out of their half and this led to plenty of turnovers in their defensive third.

Features

The UEFA match observer picked out several key features, starting with Stones moving into the midfield and this ploy is highlighted in the first two clips of the analysis video above.

Playing at right-back, the England centre-back stepped into a midfield-pivot role as City's shape shifted to a 3-2-2-3 and, as Clip 1 shows, he is positioned in the centre-circle as his fellow defenders and Rodri start to build a move from further back. Stones then collects from Rodri and spreads play out wide.

From a tactical perspective, having Stones there asks questions of Leipzig's holding midfielders, Kevin Kampl and Haidara, in particular. They already had De Bruyne and Gündoğan to think about; do they now push up on Stones and risk leaving space behind? Indeed in Clip 2 we see how Stones helps stretch Leipzig as he draws two players with him and Haaland steps back into the space vacated.

The next feature under the microscope (Clips 3 and 4) is how City build play with their wingers. As the observer said: "Their wide players start on the touchline to maximise the width, which means they have five players high up the pitch to try and overload the opponent."

While Bernardo Silva and Grealish stayed wide, City's two 8s – De Bruyne and Gündoğan – looked to find space in the lane alongside with runs between the centre-back and full-back. From the perspective of the opposition full-back, this presents a challenge and can leave him taking up a half-position – namely a position from which he can jump out to the winger but also remain close enough to be vigilant to the movement of the 8. Not an easy task.

Of course, it helps to have individuals of the quality of Bernardo Silva and De Bruyne. In the City team they recorded the highest passing accuracy in the final third on Tuesday – 93.8% and 91.7% respectively – and we see them combine in Clip 4 with the Portuguese providing the correct weight of pass and the Belgian the perfectly timed run in behind.

Guardiola had high praise for De Bruyne, who delivered a selection of wonderfully measured passes and crosses. In his press conference afterwards he summed up De Bruyne's dynamic performance by saying: "He's a guy who, outside, inside, attacks here, attacks there, makes a transition, presses high, support from Bernardo, from Erling… this intensity."

De Bruyne's superb vision is highlighted in Clip 5 as he gets behind Leipzig's low block. We see him look over his shoulder to Bernardo Silva and then signal to Stones to play the pass out wide. There is then a look at the space behind the Leipzig defence and we see him point to the area into which he wants Bernardo Silva to deliver the ball. Cue the well-timed surge and dangerous centre. (And with nine crosses from open play, he produced more than any other player in the Champions League this week.)

Several of the tactical features identified come together in Clip 6 which shows the lead-up to Gündoğan's goal and features De Bruyne's vision, another of those above-mentioned runs into the space between centre-back and full-back and the positioning of the wingers wide. In tandem with City's movement, of course, is their one v one ability and this ensured that of their 34 take-ons – the most by any team in Champions League action this week – they had a 73.5% success rate (also the week's best).

The last feature mentioned by the observer was the movement of Haaland and this is the subject of the final two clips – first when there is plenty of space in behind and he latches on to Nathan Aké's ball over the back line, and secondly when the space is tight. Here we see his ability to work off the shoulder of the defender as he gets behind Willi Orbán and flashes in an effort saved by the keeper.

Coaches' assessments

Pep Guardiola, Man City manager, speaking about De Bruyne: "The rhythm he played today, the movement outside, inside the channels, without the ball, with the ball, is the Kevin we know. When he plays with that rhythm he is able to score goals and make more assists… he is a guy that has to move, move, move."

Speaking about Haaland: "I have the feeling when you are involved in the game defensively, offensively, when the ball comes to score a goal you are more clever, you are more precise because you are in the game. It's difficult to score a lot when for 40, 50 minutes you don't touch the ball. Sometime it is his fault, sometimes he doesn't move. Other days it's our fault – in Leipzig when we played there we didn't find him in the second half."

Speaking about Bernardo Silva: "Bernardo on the left side is amazing. Bernardo has the ability to press three players in two movements. No player in the world can do that. He is so intelligent. Leipzig are very good on the left side. That's why he played."

Marco Rose, Leipzig coach: "We lost that game in terms of the pressing of City – it was amazing. We had no answer with the ball, we had no solutions with the ball. And we lost the game in terms of set pieces where we were not sharp enough against the ball. We lost too many second balls, first balls, at set pieces and that's why."