Swissquote match analysis: Club Brugge 1-1 Fiorentina
Thursday, May 9, 2024
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UEFA's Technical Observer panel analyse the draw that sent Fiorentina into the UEFA Europa Conference League final.
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Fiorentina's late penalty on Wednesday night put last year's runners-up in the UEFA Europa Conference League final again with a 4-3 semi-final aggregate victory over Club Brugge.
In this article brought to you by Swissquote, the UEFA technical observer Haakon Lunov – working with UEFA's analysis unit – highlights how the Viola wore down their opponents with concerted attacking dominance after going 1-0 down in an open first half defined by an entertaining clash of risky approaches.
Club Brugge's build vs Fiorentina's player marking
"Fiorentina's pressing strategy and Brugge's solution to it in their build-up really put an agenda on the match," said Lunov, the former Celtic assistant coach. Protecting a 3-2 lead from the first leg, Vincenzo Italiano's team set out with a clear player-to-player marking approach. Club Brugge's players initially met this challenge head on with bold and disruptive individual movements to find space to play through the press.
The first video showcases two examples of the impact on the match in the first half, when Club Brugge edged this particular game within the game. In clip one we see the impact of Denis Odoi, who drags Fiorentina's central midfielder Arthur Melo out to the touchline, leaving a gulf of space in the middle.
In clip two, Fiorentina's centre-back Lucas Martínez Quarta ends up pressing goalkeeper Simon Mignolet in the penalty area after tracking Club Brugge's attacking midfielder, Hans Vanaken, all the way into the attacking third. Club Brugge eventually breach the high press to create a 4v4 situation approaching the final third. Again, Vanaken's movement is tracked all the way by his marker.
This tactical joust created "a very open game", explained Lunov. "But also a very tiring one. The distances became long both for the team in possession and the defending team. This requires a lot of energy and focus. Until the first goal, it was Brugge who benefited from this." Lunov highlighted the big chance to go 2-0 up spurned by Thiago (see clip one) as a pivotal moment in the tie.
In the second half, Club Brugge opted to go direct over the high pressure more often, usually from right to the left midfield area, where full-back Maxim De Cuyper was regularly joined by Vanaken. Clip three shows both players losing their individual markers to create a 2v1 initially, progressing to a 6v5 overload in the final third as Fiorentina's Nicolás González fails to track Vanaken.
Fiorentina's final-third dominance in the second half
While the Viola dominated the game overall – with an xG of 2.52 against Club Brugge's 0.21 and 20 goal attempts to two – the nature of their threat changed as Club Brugge's intensity faded.
Clip one in the second video illustrates the risk versus reward inherent in the home team's expansive build-up. The turnover of possession creates a counterattack exploiting the distance between the left centre-back, Brandon Mechele, and De Cuyper, who is stranded high and wide. González races clear but his effort is saved by Mignolet.
In the second half, these "distances in Brugge's offensive play started to expose them to more of these transitions", explained Lunov, who also praised Italiano for seizing the initiative in the 70th minute. "Italiano made a key move with the substitutions of M'Bala Nzola and Alfred Duncan," he explained. "This gave a boost to the high pressure but also more movement in behind Brugge with the ball, and the possibility to lift their full-backs higher. From there and until the equaliser it seemed like only one team was on the pitch, with some really big Fiorentina chances. Christian Kouamé also showed more of his offensive threat."
Clip two illustrates this greater control imposed by Fiorentina. González anticipates the long right-to-left pass towards Vanaken and intercepts, creating a counterattacking opportunity with Kouamé receiving on the half-turn.
In clip three, we see a showcase of the incessant pressure created by Italiano's team in what the coach called "a second half of great quality". As the home team's intensity in and out of possession faded, the Viola turned the screw with potent counterpressing.
In the 45-second clip, Fiorentina turn over possession initially and threaten with six attackers in the pocket in front of the Club Brugge back four. Fiorentina proceed to regain the ball four more times while forcing all ten outfield opponents to retreat as Fiorentina defenders Dodô and Martínez Quarta join the attack.
Lucas Beltrán's crucial equaliser came from an 85th-minute penalty awarded after a foul during a similar spell of pressure on the Club Brugge goal.
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Fiorentina nullifying Thiago
"We started with a lot of energy and intensity," said Club Brugge's coach, Nicky Hayen. "Unfortunately we could not keep at that level in the second half."
Lunov highlighted the shackles imposed on Club Brugge's striker, Thiago, as a big factor in the home team's second-half struggles.
Clip one in the final video gives an early indication of the Viola strategy to win what Lunov described as a "potentially game-decisive battle".
Nikola Milenković sticks tight to Thiago in build-up and is joined near the striker by three team-mates as the cross comes in. The first-half chance for Thiago (featured in the first video) proved to be his only meaningful opportunity. "After half-time, Milenković had Thiago in his pocket," explained Lunov.
Clip two highlights how Fiorentina seized chances to counterattack once nullifying Thiago's hold-up threat. We see Milenković force the striker to concede possession then Fiorentina switch the ball to the right, where the full-back Dodô and winger González exchange positions – a regular feature throughout – to enter the penalty area.
Finally, clip three shows Milenković again winning the individual duel before finding González in space. The Argentina international advances unopposed, with three passing options ahead of him, and wins a free-kick on the edge of the penalty area.
For Lunov, Fiorentina's progression to a second consecutive Europa Conference League final owed much to the successful player-to-player marking and collective "calmness and experience" to stick to the gameplan and wear down their opponents despite trailing for 65 minutes.