Champions League performance insights: Man United patience pays off against Copenhagen

Manchester United's home win over Copenhagen on UEFA Champions League Matchday 3 was a tight contest decided by a single Harry Maguire goal.

To underline how close it was, United had 692 touches of the ball and Copenhagen 689, while United attempted 15 shots and their visitors 16.

UEFA's analysis unit have shone a light on the attacking approach of both teams in Tuesday's Group A fixture and discerned some common ground in the fact both had plenty of organised possession – patient, probing passing – as they moved the ball forward.

This bar chart above, displaying the sides' different types of attack when entering the final third, shows that organised possession was fundamental to both teams – United 58%, Copenhagen 55%.

To focus on Copenhagen, they were able to mix a patient build-up with moments when they progressed through attacking transitions (14%).

This second graph, which displays the teams' lead actions when entering the final third, provides further detail in showing us that on more than one-third of the occasions Copenhagen got into the attacking third of the pitch, the source was a penetrative pass (36%).

The video below offers one such example of the ability of Jacob Neestrup's men to combine organised possession with a penetrative pass – Rasmus Falk delivering the incisive ball to Viktor Claesson which sparks an attack in the final third.

Falk ended the game with nine passes into the final third – a figure surpassed, on the visiting side, only by centre-back Denis Vavro. For United, Raphaël Varane produced nine and Bruno Fernandes eight.

To switch the focus to Erik ten Hag's United, many of their attempts to progress came from playing around the defensive shape of the Copenhagen defence.

The example in this second video above shows a passage of play from the first half where, with Copenhagen sitting in a low block, United's players work the ball patiently from one side to the other before eventually Marcus Rashford attempts a shot from outside the box.

The 3D graphic below breaks down for us the types of final-third progression by United in Tuesday's Old Trafford contest: penetrative passes accounted for 21% while non-penetrative passes had a 40% share.

As noted by UEFA's Technical Observer, Aitor Karanka, United were sharper and swifter in their approach in the second half and we see this reflected by this pie chart of their penalty-box entry attempts. Whereas they managed only eight in the first half, they more than doubled that number in the second with 20.

It is also worth highlighting how more than one-third of United's penalty-box entries came from individual actions. The graphic below – breaking down the two sides' lead actions when entering the area – shows that 36% came from individual actions in United's case. For Copenhagen, by contrast, the biggest source was crosses – 65%.

This followed the half-time introduction of Christian Eriksen which led to an increase in quicker, penetrative passes. As Karanka, a UEFA Champions League-winning defender with Real Madrid, wrote in his analysis of the match: "United now had two players in Eriksen and, ahead of him in the No10 slot, Fernandes, who were able to combine with the attacking players in the final third."

A pass from Fernandes to Rashford is the cue for the individual action we see in this third and final video below in which United's England forward creates an opening with a driving run – he beats Peter Ankersen down the left before pulling the ball back for Rasmus Højlund to tee up a shooting opportunity for Eriksen early in the second half as the game began to open up.