Swissquote match analysis: Club Brugge 3-0 Molde

Club Brugge overturned a first-leg deficit against Molde with a dominant 3-0 home performance to reach the last eight of the UEFA Europa Conference League on Thursday.

In this article brought to you by Swissquote, the UEFA technical observer Jarmo Matikainen – working in conjunction with the UEFA analysis unit – highlights how the creative attacking thrust of the home team overcame Molde's resilient low block.

Club Brugge's attacking unit

"Brugge needed to score but also needed to make sure they did not concede," said Matikainen. "After a nervy start, they pushed Molde further back and put them under pressure with patient build-up play and several regains with good counter-pressing."

Club Brugge owed their success to coach Ronny Deila's creative and varied attacking approach, explained Matikainen. With inverted wingers offering flexibility and the 22-year-old Brazilian Thiago operating as a "strong target player who gave them a platform to attack", the Belgian side posed constant challenges to the Molde defensive set-up.

Clip one illustrates the fluid link-up play between Thiago, Ferran Jutglà and Andreas Skov Olsen – who opened the scoring on the stroke of half-time. "With right-sided Jutglà on the left and left-footed Skov Olsen on the right, inverted wingers were a constant theme," explained Matikainen. Clip two shows how both wide players drifted inside to combine and create an earlier goalscoring opportunity. In clip three we see the third goal by Michał Skóraś – who replaced the injured two-goal hero, Skov Olsen – resulting from a rapid counterattack.

Wide areas and switches of play

As with the goal by Skóraś seen above, the crucial second just three minutes into the second half came from a right-sided player coming inside and finishing with a left-footed strike. Clip one shows Skov Olsen's sublime finish – one of "two wonderful goals" by the Dane, according to Deila – coming after a quick switch of play from right to left that stretches the Molde structure to create space to attack centrally. Clips two and three highlight Club Brugge's intelligent movement and switches of play to find space and exploit 2v1 or 3v2 overloads.

The double threat posed by the left-footed defender Maxim De Cuyper operating behind Skov Olsen caught Matikainen's attention. "With both players inverted on one side, it offered something new, something different up against the Molde low block that Club Brugge probably expected," he explained. "They both rotated well, one inside, one outside, usually one high and one low, and both were more than able to cut in, play through balls, deliver crosses or switch play."

With 52% possession and 484 successful passes against Molde's 356, Club Brugge dominated the ball. For Matikainen, their central midfielders were instrumental in helping turn this superiority into meaningful attacks, resulting in seven shots on target versus Molde's one.

"Raphael Onyedika showed he is very good, a complete midfielder," said Matikainen. "He can play different roles and go box to box. But his main job description here was to find good passes to break occasional high pressing but also to protect the back four. Further ahead, the captain Hans Vanaken played closer to Thiago and was the second choice for longer passes, especially to the head. He was good at picking up second balls and offered a second platform to build attacks."

Molde breaking out from low block

Molde's game plan was clear. "They had a 2-1 lead to hold on to from the first leg," explained Matikainen. "They looked patient, comfortable and compact for long periods in a low block in the first half and tried to counterattack quickly."

Clip one shows a perfect example. We see the midfield three remain close together to block central passing lanes and force Club Brugge around their defensive shape. "Molde did well applying pressure to man and ball when Club Brugge entered the final third," said Matikainen. Note how Molde switch from having nine outfield players behind the ball in their own penalty box to a 3v3 scenario in the attacking third within ten seconds of De Cuyper's cross. The 42nd-minute counterattack breaks down but it illustrates Matikainen's point that Molde's gameplan worked well in the first half.

In clip two the "well-drilled and organised" 5-3-2 system is clear, notably what Matikainen flagged up as the "team work ethic to apply pressure multiple times", leading to a turnover of possession. Fredrik Gulbrandsen, Molde's Norwegian international striker, takes the ball 60 metres to retain possession. "In transitions, it was important for the Molde attackers to help carry the ball up the pitch like this to alleviate pressure on the defence," explained Matikainen. The left wing-back, Mathias Fjørtoft Løvik, also impressed in possession, displaying flexibility and game intelligence to push higher and pose an attacking threat.

"But the picture changed quite dramatically when Molde conceded the first goal at the worst possible moment, very late in the first half," said Matikainen. "And again just three minutes into the second half."

The veteran Club Brugge goalkeeper, Simon Mignolet, agreed on the crucial impact of the goals. "We scored at the right times," said the former Liverpool player. "But we had to stay well organised and Molde threatened on the counter a few times. In the second half we tackled that better."