Champions League performance insights: Going 1v1

What’s the most demanding position in elite football today? Roberto Martínez, the Portugal national-team coach and UEFA technical observer, has no doubt about the answer: centre-half.

He explains: "In my opinion, centre-backs in the Champions League need to be good at breaking lines and playing forward, and now they're asked to defend with a full half a pitch at their backs and just go all the way up front."

This last point is pivotal for players whose primary job remains to defend. In Martínez's eyes, the defensive aspect of the job description has changed: centre-halves in European football previously worked "in sync with their defensive unit", in contrast with South America where there were more "1v1s" to deal with, yet today the trend is for more 1v1 defending in Europe too.

"Now I think the European game is moving towards players becoming better in 1v1s," says Martínez, citing evidence from the group stage of this season's Champions League. "Even with a tall and physically robust centre-half, he needs to be able to go all the way and defend a 1v1 when the striker goes back to play.

"Therefore, in my opinion, based on these trends in the Champions League I'd say that coaches who work with young players should consider more sessions cultivating these 1v1s: back to play, face-on, diagonal and lateral."

The following video clips show Borussia Dortmund centre-back Mats Hummels perform each type of action during their November win at AC Milan.

1v1: Defending from behind

In the first clip above, Hummels wins a challenge with Milan forward Luka Jović. "This is the 1v1 where the No9 has his back to the play and the defender defending behind him," says Martínez.

1v1: Defending take-ons

Next is an example of the standard 1v1 where, says Martínez, "the attacking player has the ball and he is facing his defender". Here Christian Pulišić is the player who looks to take on Hummels who duly dispossesses the United States international with a superbly timed tackle.

1v1: Defending diagonally

The third clip shows Hummels defending diagonally as he makes an angled run to halt the progress of Pulišić once more. "You have the wide player trying to get down the side to cross it and the defender covering," says Martínez.

1v1: Defending in wide areas

In the fourth clip, Hummels is featured defending laterally as he moves over towards his left touchline to win another challenge – this time against Milan full-back Simone Calabria.

For Martínez, these 1v1 situations should be an integral feature of young players' development. "There's an argument to highlight 1v1s in relation to the positions on the pitch and work on it," he elaborates. "Centre-halves more than ever need to be able to defend diagonally as now they are out of their unit and need to come out and engage in diagonal positions.

"Also, with your back to play, now instead of it being outside your box, now it can be in the opposition half, and you need to be able to go all the way."

Defensive balance behind the ball

That last comment about defenders stepping up the pitch to engage leads us to another point raised by UEFA's technical observers during the Champions League group stage – namely, the importance of defenders marking opposition players while their own team is attacking.

Ole Gunnar Solskjær, when analysing the Napoli vs Real Madrid group fixture, saw it as fundamental to achieving a good counter-press and winning the ball back. It requires bravery – as Napoli's players were reminded by their coach at half-time that night.

The two clips selected from the match illustrate Solskjær’s point. "The baseline for any good counter-pressing strategy is a good defensive shape while you attack," he says. "This means defensive players being tactically aware of opposition attacking players who prepare for a counter-attack."

In the first clip, André-Frank Zambo Anguissa is shown urging centre-back Leo Østigård to push high upon Vinícius Júnior. By being high up the pitch, the Napoli centre-back is then able to beat the Brazilian to a ball out of the Madrid box, which leads to a shooting opportunity for Zambo Anguissa.

"When we are attacking, defenders should look at wherever the opponents are and get tight to them so if we lose the ball they cannot just find an easy pass," adds Solskjær. "You get tight and if there's a pass up to the striker, the defender should be tight with him and not let him turn, for example, or be a nice easy target so they can get possession."

Clip 2 gives a second example with both Natan and Østigård inside the Madrid half getting tight to the Spanish side's attackers. For Solskjær, Napoli's brave approach in the second half of that game is illustrative of the broader tendency, already mentioned above, for more 1v1 play from defenders whom he sees as increasingly better equipped athletically – with strength and pace – to meet the challenge.

"Teams are getting braver and playing man against man at the back," he concludes. "I look at it and think more and more teams really try to win it back when that ball comes up."

NFF Talent ID lead Thomas Broch Brantsæter@NFF

Through the lens of a Talent ID practitioner

Thomas Broch Brantsæter works at the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) as a Talent ID Lead, having previously worked at clubs including Stabæk, Midtjylland and Liverpool. He completed his UEFA Academy Elite Scouting Course in 2022 and is still attached to the programme as a guest lecturer.

Specialising in the role of centre-half

Implications for youth development

The evolution of the centre-half position has implications for how we in youth football identify and develop future players for this position. Still today, you see in youth football a lot of centre-halves who are tall and physically strong but may lack technical ability or mobility. While this is not necessarily wrong, you need to prepare them purposely from an early age to handle complex, multi-directional situations on and off the ball.

Importantly, central defenders of this type must be trained against players of the same physical maturity. More and more academies are using bio-banding to achieve this developmental outcome and this might also be a great way, from a talent-identification perspective, to get a better idea of the future potential of these players regardless of their level of physical maturity.

Below is a simple but effective exercise you can use to help your central defenders become more comfortable applying pressure to create and exploit 2v1 situations when playing out from the back.

Session plan:

• Set up a pitch of 30x10m, divided into two zones as illustrated. Adjust pitch size to the skill level of your players
• Put one defender in each of the two zones

Session organisation:

• The two blue players start by passing the ball to each other back and forth
• The closest red player starts to press aggressively after some passes, so the blue players must be ready
• Start with not allowing the red players to run across the "free zone"
• Progress the exercise by allowing the first defender to run back to defend and/or applying a ten-second rule for blue team to score.
• Quickly start a second ball to trigger transition movements both ways

Session points:

• Apply pressure with the ball to exploit 2v1 and consider whether to pass or dribble past the defender
• Blue player without the ball, adjust angle to receive the ball in front of or behind the defender
• Tempo of progression, breaking lines with pace and control

New ways of thinking

We might also benefit from different approaches, such as deliberately and systematically playing up-and-coming centre-halves in other positions in youth football, as a way of preparing them for the senior game. One good example of this is Rúben Dias, who in his youth played both as a striker and a central midfielder before he ended up as a centre-half.

From a youth national-team perspective, the 'Future Team' concept can be a good way to identify central defenders of the future who, in youth football, may have a temporary physical disadvantage in terms of maturity. When they catch up with their peers physically, they will have gained many long-term advantages from having to anticipate situations and think faster to compensate.

We still need defenders that can defend

All this said, we must not forget that top defenders must love to defend and be able to handle defensive situations inside their own box. This is, at the end of the day, where most goals are scored. And while this is a matter of ability, it is also a matter of mentality. If you a see a young player willing to block shots without fear, and who celebrates a decisive block as if a goal were scored, then you have a great starting point!

One of my favourite training activities to develop defending inside your box is illustrated below.

Session plan:

• Place goalkeeper (GK), two attackers and two defenders inside the box, with four white players around
• Place two big goals as shown for red team to score into

Session organisation:

• Play GK+2v2 inside the box, and allow the blue players to use white players as support
• White players cannot move into the box
• Red team seeks to clear/pass the ball into the two big goals
• The coach quickly restarts the game when the ball goes out to provide a lot of challenging situations inside the box. Short, intense games of 1-2 minutes are recommended
• It is recommended to progress into playing GK + 4v4 inside the box, still with four supporting players around

Session points:

• Defensive positioning inside the box to defend crosses from wide areas
• Clearing crosses effectively with both feet
• Controlling 1v1 defensive situations, prioritising stopping/blocking shots in close collaboration with GK