In The Zone: Augmented reality analysis – Space and how to conquer it
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
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With the help of AR virtual analysis, UEFA Technical Observer Rafa Benítez explains how UEFA Champions League teams work goalscoring wonders in small and large spaces.
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When it comes to opening up defences in football today, the very best players have the ability to make things happen in tight spaces and equally to exploit the room afforded when bigger spaces appear.
This is the evidence of the following augmented reality virtual presenter analysis featuring UEFA Technical Observer Rafa Benítez, brought to you by FedEx. Benítez, working with the UEFA performance analysis unit, explores examples from several league-phase fixtures from this season's Champions League, showing teams attacking both small and large spaces – and he explains the different technical qualities that each approach requires.
Attacking tight spaces
The first video shows Barcelona up against the man-to-man set-up of Bayern during their 4-1 home win in October. As Benítez says, the key factor in dislodging the defence is the "opposite movements" of Raphinha and Fermín López, with the former dropping deep and the latter running behind before teeing up a goal for Robert Lewandowski. “It’s not just about keeping the ball and being patient [but having] the movement of the offensive players,” observes Benítez.
The next example features a Liverpool goal in their 2-0 home win against Real Madrid and Benítez highlights the importance of Alexis Mac Allister's constant scanning in the lead-up to scoring. "Mac Allister all the time is the one scanning around, trying to find spaces between players and find the angles," says Benítez who notes also the precision of the Argentinian's one-two with Conor Bradley, praising the close control and quick finish that follow.
The importance of movement to draw out defenders is evident in this third clip, taken from Arsenal’s 5-1 win at Sporting in which, as Benítez discusses, Declan Rice steps into the right channel and draws out Sporting's left-sided centre-back, Gonçalo Inácio, so as to open up space for Bukayo Saka. "Declan Rice is attracting the centre-back who is then following him and there's a massive space," says Benítez who lauds the intelligence and speed of Saka's run in behind to set up Kai Havertz. Arsenal's successful attacking progressions down their right in Lisbon are further explored in this earlier article.
Attacking big spaces
For this second part of the analysis, Benítez begins by looking at a Raphinha goal against Bayern which follows a quick switch of play – a rehearsed move, as he explains in the video. As mentioned already in the first section, Barcelona had profited from runs in behind defenders in this game and here is an alternative option as Marc Casadó escapes the congestion by delivering a crossfield pass. "Straight away, Lewandowski is pointing to the other side," Benítez says. "He knows they have players wide that could be an option."
In this initial In The Zone analysis of Barcelona’s performance that night, we analysed their threat from deep runs. Here Benítez returns to the first example highlighted then as Barcelona beat the Bayern press with a pass up to Lewandowski before then sending Raphinha running behind to open the scoring. Benítez praises the clever movement of Pedri and the switch between Fermín López and Raphinha. "That creates confusion between the defenders and it gives them extra time to receive the ball [Fermín] or to make the movement running behind the defenders [Raphinha]."
The focus now turns to transitions as we see Leipzig, in their home game with Juventus, capitalise on a ball up the pitch to Loïs Openda who supplies Benjamin Šeško to score. For Benítez the key things here are "the run of Šeško and the vision of Openda and the quality of the pass".
Finally, it is back to Barcelona vs Bayern for another example of the need for high-quality passes to complement clever movement. Benítez singles out Pedri first for his ball out from defence to Yamal. "Instead of playing the easy pass back he is already looking for a player forward," he says. "It’s a better option because they know the transition has to be quick." What follows is just as quick as Yamal similarly eschews the easy pass and looks for another penetrating ball. "We talk about top-class players and [how] they put their head up and he’s looking for the player who is running behind defenders, in this case Raphinha," adds Benítez.
Tips for the training ground
The examples above underline the importance of being able perform at speed and from a coaching perspective, this begs the question of how to help young players develop the ability to do that. It is a question that we asked two talent development experts after the Real Madrid vs Manchester City tie in February and gained the following insights.
According to Gunnar Pettersson, a talent ID expert with Swedish Football Association, "a key trait in today's top attacking players is being able to control the ball and control the situation in tight spaces. The game is so fast now so we need to develop players who can manage that speed.
"To coach this, players have to play in small spaces. They have to be able to control the ball and make decisions in small spaces and, at the same time, be able to combine with other players – with someone showing to feet and someone else going in behind, for example."
When it comes to transitions, Football Association of Norway expert Thomas Brantsæter suggested that "to practise counterattacking, why not start training drills with a loose ball and contesting possession? That's a real-game scenario."
He reiterated the point about players needing to be able to deal with both of the scenarios presented above, saying: "We are seeing more and more complete footballers who are great at 1v1s in big spaces but can also play in the smaller spaces. We need players who are both fast and have technical ability to combine in small spaces. These players don't have only one solution. They have the tools to expose their opponents where it hurts them most."
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