In the Zone: Man City 3-0 Bayern performance analysis

Bayern München arrived in Manchester this week with the only 100% record in this season's UEFA Champions League. They flew home digesting a 3-0 defeat after an absorbing quarter-final first leg against Manchester City – a match which the German champions controlled for spells but which ran away from them in the final quarter.

In this analysis brought to you by FedEx, the UEFA Technical Observer Panel assess the key tactical features from Tuesday's contest, including the decisive adjustment that City made to their pressing game to help them seize control in the second period.

Goals

1-0: Rodri (27)

Collecting a ball infield from Bernardo Silva, Rodri sidestepped Jamal Musiala and, with his left foot, curled a magnificent long-range shot high to the right of the diving Yann Sommer. It was his first Champions League goal – and his first in any UEFA club competition since his first senior goal as a professional for Villarreal against Osmanlıspor in the UEFA Europa League in November 2016. In short, a bolt from the blue by a player who ended the evening with 17 recoveries to his name too – the most by a City player in a single Champions League match.

2-0: Bernardo Silva (70)

"We gave away a present for the second goal." This was the verdict of Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel when asked about a goal which followed Dayot Upamecano losing the ball at the back. From a City perspective, though, it was reward for a tweak to their pressing strategy – of which more in the Features section below. In short, Jack Grealish put Upamecano under pressure and, with the passing routes closed, the Frenchman tried to step back inside only for Grealish to nick the ball. The winger's back-heel then put Erling Haaland in space on the left side and the Norwegian showed excellent vision to pick out Bernardo, coming in at the far post to nod across Sommer. City's tallest player had teed up one of their shortest.

3-0: Erling Haaland (76)

City scored their sixth goal from a corner in this Champions League campaign – more than any other club – and Haaland his 11th (and 45th overall this term). After Julián Álvarez's initial delivery was cleared, the Argentinian substitute swung the ball back into the box where John Stones rose high at the far post and headed across for Haaland to sweep in on the volley.

Player of the Match: John Stones

The England defender has played recently as a full-back with a brief to step into midfield. On Tuesday he did the same from a central defensive position and, in the eyes of the UEFA match observer, showed superb decision-making in terms of when to move upfield. "He displayed excellent use of the ball and an outstanding tactical understanding of a hybrid central defensive/midfield role to make the right decisions positionally in and out of possession," said the observer.

Team formations

Man City

Pep Guardiola's men lined up in a 4-3-3 with a back line made up of four centre-halves yet they often built up in a 3-2-5 with Stones (5), in a hybrid role, moving into the midfield, sometimes ahead of Rodri (16) who would drop low to help construct the play.

Out of possession, City pressed in a 4-4-2 though as the second half progressed the two wingers, Bernardo (20) and Grealish (10) took higher positions than the two forwards and pressed diagonally on to the two Bayern centre-backs, as highlighted in the second video below.

Bayern

Bayern's formation was a 4-2-3-1 and a key player identified by the match observer was Joshua Kimmich (6), who would drop low to create a 3v2 in the initial build-up phase and also showed great intelligence in finding space behind the City press.

Further upfield, Thomas Müller (25) started on the bench for the first time under Tuchel as Bayern's new coach, in what was his fourth game at the helm, opted for the speed of Musiala (42) and Serge Gnabry (7) in attack. "We wanted to play with fast players, fast dribblers," explained Tuchel afterwards. "Thomas's major strength is in the last 25 metres of the pitch. A match against Manchester City is normally not a match you play in the last 25 metres of the pitch – if you reach this zone you need to be fast, you need to dribble."

While Musiala and Gnabry dropped low to escape the marking of the centre-backs, wingers Kingsley Coman (11) and Leroy Sané (10) achieved a nice balance between starting wide and coming in off the line.

Features

The first feature highlighted in the video analysis concerns Bayern's success in getting behind the City press in the first half. City are a team who look to press high and force turnovers yet the visitors were able to play through them regularly. "We could not press properly," admitted Guardiola of his side's efforts in this period and the first clip above is a case in point.

Here City have Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne pushing up on the centre-backs with Ιlkay Gündoğan and Rodri getting tight to the Bayern pivots and Bernardo and Grealish assigned to the full-backs. Yet there is space to exploit between that front line of the press and the defensive line behind. Indeed the video shows Tuchel signalling to Benjamin Pavard to get into this very area as Sommer picks him out as just one pass from the goalkeeper takes out half the City team.

The second clip offers another example in which City do not get tight enough to Upamecano and the centre-back is able to dissect their press with a forward pass to Gnabry.

Bayern also troubled City with their ability to find players in the pockets of space between their defensive and midfield lines. Clips 3 and 4 illustrate the hosts' struggles with their mid-press and in this respect Musiala was a particular menace. "In part of the game they were better than us," said Guardiola. "We could not control the pockets, especially Musiala and Gnabry." In Clip 3 the movement of both players is highlighted, with Gnabry the man who collects the ball. In the next sequence, it is Musiala's movement which sparks an attack with a 4v3 in Bayern's favour.

For UEFA's analysis unit, Guardiola's response to the problems Bayern posed City was highly significant and held the key to their ultimately handsome victory as he adjusted their press in a second half when the home side defended deeper than usual.

"We adjusted something and in the last part of the game we were better," said Guardiola who got Bernardo and Grealish, his wingers, to jump on the Bayern centre-backs rather than his two forwards.

We see three examples of this in the video sequence above with the first clip showing Bernardo press Matthijs de Ligt and Grealish do likewise to Upamecano. What this means is City now have four players in a 'box' shape centrally – with Haaland and De Bruyne tight on the Bayern pivots and Gündoğan and Rodri screening the space in front of Musiala and Gnabry.

This means City are better placed to block the passing lanes and in the second clip we see Upamecano – with no options in the central areas – attempt a long pass out to the flank. City win the ball and end up creating a chance for Nathan Aké. They started to gain turnovers deep inside Bayern's half and the third sequence offers the prime example with Bernardo's goal, which comes after Grealish presses Upamecano, who – with the passing routes again restricted – turns inside and loses the ball.

The final feature of Tuesday's game highlighted by the match observer was City's defensive excellence. Bayern had scored in 39 of their previous 40 Champions League games before arriving in Manchester yet came up against a brilliantly disciplined and committed City back line. This last collection of clips begins with a magnificent block by Rúben Dias to thwart Musiala, and overall Dias made more blocks (three) than any other player in quarter-final action this week as well as winning six of his seven duels (challenges both on the ground and in the air).

The second example showcases Player of the Match Stones as he gets his body in front of Sané to deny the Bayern winger a sight of goal. If blocked off there, Sané was a lively presence for Bayern on his return to his former club and posted the most shots on goal (four from five attempts) of any player this week – notably two second-half attempts saved well by Ederson.

"How the back four defended – Manu [Akanji], John, Rúben, Nathan – was amazing [with] the quality to defend against these threats," said Guardiola. "Leroy was outstanding today and Coman is another exceptional player," added the coach who was delighted by how his players "controlled their transitions".

Last but not least is a fine piece of defending from Aké, who denies Coman an opportunity as he sprints back and sees the danger to intercept a Müller cross intended for Bayern's French attacker. It was just one example of an individual contribution from the Dutchman which also included six clearances – a tally unmatched by any other defender this week.

Coaches' assessments

Pep Guardiola, Man City coach: "In a lot of moments they were better than us. But after 65 minutes, apart from finding the second goal that helped us a lot, we made some changes and our pressing was more effective.

"To handle Leroy and Coman you have to be defensively really good in the duels because all the time they have incredible players up front in the pockets, and threats in behind you with the fast players. It is so difficult to read.

"Today those four guys at the back were focused for all the 90 minutes, they were incredibly stable here [mentally]. In this competition it's so important."

Thomas Tuchel, Bayern coach: "Today I saw a very strong team, I saw a committed team, I saw a brave team that played a good first half and played very, very good until the 70th minute.

"Result-wise, it's very tough but performance-wise not, I loved how we played. In our very best period, when we dominated, when it was as a matter of time to score, when we had a lot of ball possession and dominated the rhythm, we made a huge mistake and got punished. We gave away a present for the second goal and then the confidence shifted in completely the other direction."