Champions League Performance Insights: Man-marking and how to counter it

"Man-marking can be an effective defensive strategy when executed well. It requires individual tactical awareness, aggression, accountability, discipline and confidence."

UEFA match observer Cristian Chivu made this assertion about the potential impact of a man-marking strategy after watching a team who do it as well as anybody in the Champions League – Gian Piero Gasperini's Atalanta.

In their 2-2 draw at Barcelona this week, Chivu saw an Atalanta side who showed all of the above-mentioned qualities and the following article, produced by the UEFA analysis unit, will explore the challenges they posed Barcelona – and also consider how Hansi Flick's men responded and the lessons that coaches can draw from this.

As a starting point, the video above offers three examples of Atalanta's 1v1 pressing approach. The Bergamo team looked to force Barcelona to one side in their build-up and when the ball reached the full-back, that was their trigger to jump. As Atalanta midfielder Marten de Roon said afterwards: "We knew we wanted to press them, because they can punish you in a moment. We left the ball to their full-backs and then we tried to press hard."

As the first sequence unfolds, we see just how close each Atalanta player gets to the player he has been assigned to mark and, in the face of this intense pressure, Barcelona cede possession. Clip two offers more of the same, showing again how the ball reaching the Barcelona full-backs is their trigger to press.

Clip three, meanwhile, highlights how closely the Atalanta centre-backs follow their men. Gasperini's approach demands strict man-marking so even when the Barcelona forwards rotate and move into another zone, the centre-backs follow – with Berat Djimsiti tracking Raphinha right across the pitch from the left flank.

The effect this had on Barcelona in the first half of Wednesday's contest was significant. With the visitors going 1v1 right across the pitch, the Spanish side struggled in their initial efforts to build the play. This is reflected by the graphic above which shows that only 8% of Barcelona's passes were made within the attacking third – compared with 20% after the break.

As another measure of Barcelona's difficulties, not since Matchday 3 against Bayern had the Blaugrana managed such a low number of passes in the final third during the first half of a Champions League game. On Wednesday night their total was just 32. By contrast in their previous home game against Brest, it was 97 – three times as many.

To offer a third metric, look at the difference in long balls played by the home side in the first half (16) compared to the second (nine) after Flick had tweaked their approach. And this then leads us to the question of how they responded. "In the second half we wanted to make things a little bit different," said Flick and the video below offers examples.

First, Barcelona looked to rotations as we see in the opening clip above, with Frenkie de Jong breaking into the space created by Raphinha dropping deep and drawing Djimsiti with him.

As displayed by clips two and three, they also challenged Atalanta with some excellent attacking combinations. In clip two, Barcelona are fast and direct, and profit from the movement and interplay between Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal. UEFA's analysts saw more of this in the second half and clip three, showing the lead-up to Yamal's 47th-minute goal, is worth focusing on for the detail. Watch how Raphinha is scanning, looking to see where Lewandowski is, and then making a disguised run, dropping only to then spin in behind. Lewandowski for his part feigns to go behind, only to drop to receive.

"The scanning is key so that they play together and not individually," says another of UEFA match observers, Jan Peder Jalland. "The great thing about this clip is how fast the play is – it's so well-timed with few touches. Against a man-to-man approach, the key is to get away from your opponent and you see all three attackers going towards the ball and then going in behind or opposite."

The lesson for a centre-back, meanwhile, is that if you are not tight enough, you lose your man entirely. And at this level, every metre counts.

Finally, to switch the focus to Atalanta's attacking, they profited from a more vertical approach themselves when scoring their late equalising goal, as we see in the third video above. In this action, Mario Pašalić, the scorer, is rewarded for an excellent third-man run and, overall, the Croatian ranked in the top three for runs in behind by Atalanta players, with 11, as displayed below.

The keys to creating a man-marking system

At Atalanta, the players operate within a system that has been polished over Gasperini's nine years coaching in Bergamo. For a coach setting a team up to play this way from scratch, there is a combination of requirements, according to Cristian Chivu. "A successful man-marking strategy relies on a combination of individual skills, team dynamics and a clear understanding of team roles," he says.

Chivu, the former Romania defender, adds: "For a coach, ensuring that your players' assignments are easy to understand allows them to focus on execution rather than overthinking their responsibilities. Emphasising basic defensive skills such as positioning, tackling and intercepting helps players to execute their roles effectively."

A second reflection comes from Roberto Martínez, who focuses first on the specific instructions to players regarding their responsibilities. "Is it marking the man all over the pitch or in certain areas and in relation to the position of the ball? You need good communication to use man-marking within a team structure and have to make good decisions defensively regarding the man to mark, the position of the ball, and the position in relation to the goal."

For Martínez, there are also the individual aspects demanded of the player who is man-marking, and these include "body position, low balance, the right defensive intensity and defensive decisions as an individual".

According to Rui Faria, finally, the question of timing is vital too for a team to act in a synchronised way. "Each individual player needs to understand when to jump," he says. "The distances are crucial and the timing is crucial. Also, physically you have to be well prepared, though no one can press hard for 90 minutes."