Swissquote Match Analysis: Leverkusen vs Roma

José Mourinho’s Roma side won the first leg 1-0 thanks to an Edoardo Bove goal, meaning Xabi Alonso's side needed a victory to stop Roma reaching a second successive UEFA final following last season’s success in the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League decider.

Roma had to survive intense pressure from Leverkusen, who had 72% of possession and 17 goal attempts to Roma's one in a game where eight players received yellow cards. Hoping to reach a first UEFA final since the 2002 Champions League, Leverkusen attacked from the start and forward Moussa Diaby hit the crossbar early, but Alonso's side could not prevail. Mourinho now has a chance to win a sixth European trophy as a coach as his side take on Sevilla in the Budapest final. Roma have won 11 of their last 12 UEFA knockout ties.

In this article brought to you by Swissquote, the UEFA Technical Observer Panel pick out several key tactical details from a match played in front of a capacity crowd at the BayArena.

Team formations

Leverkusen

Roma

Features

"Roma had a very clear game plan for this match," explains UEFA's Technical Observer. "They wanted to defend solid and did not want to give opponent a chance to counterattack and cause problems. The defensive performance was disciplined and every player knew their role. There was a real togetherness in defending. The team dropped off to defend in their own half, leaving the opponent to build up the game unopposed in their half."

Chasing a one-goal deficit from the first leg in Rome, it was Leverkusen’s job to score.

The Technical Observer said: "Leverkusen started well and dominated possession throughout the match. They had their usual dynamic approach to the game. Attacks were systematic when it came to passing but they weren't allowed to create effective counterattacks because of Roma's strong balance. Instead, Leverkusen used combinations and penetrations from the middle of the pitch and crosses from the wide areas to try and unlock the Roma defence."

The first video focuses on Roma's low block out of possession in a 5-3-2 shape which would serve them so well in surviving the relentless Leverkusen attacks. The first two clips highlight the tight distances, just eight metres, between the attacking players and the midfielders and then another eight metres to the defenders.

Roma's formation, especially their middle three, is also narrow. These three midfielders stayed compact to try and limit Leverkusen's combinations in central areas, which is what happens as Roma win the ball back.

The second video clip again shows Roma's 5-3-2 out of possession. Here, Leverkusen attempt to use width to stretch the pitch by using their wing-backs. Yet despite Roma's compact shape and narrow midfield three leaving spaces on the edge of the box, Roma still manage to frustrate their opponents. Roma's pressure on the ball combined with their tight, compact shape forces Leverkusen to shoot from distance

The wider players of the midfield three covered wide areas in the middle third and defended narrow in the defensive third. When they dropped off to defend, they did so in an organised manner.

"Roma's 5-3-2 formation didn't change and nor did the tactics throughout the match," explains UEFA's Technical Observer. "When they attacked it was via a fast transition but they did not commit more than four players forward, making sure that at least six players stayed behind the ball at all times."

Roma's goalkeeper Rui Patrício was also important. He opened the play with a long ball to No9, Tammy Abraham. Seven Leverkusen players had more than 75 touches of the ball; not one Roma player had more than 47.

"When in possession, the idea was to pass quickly to Abraham with attacking midfielders supporting him and with No11 [Andrea Belotti] running beyond," the UEFA's Technical Observer explained. "Attacking-wise, there was hardly anything to show and goalscoring chances were at minimum. Roma didn't have a single attempt on target to Leverkusen's six. Roma didn't have one corner to Leverkusen’s five."

Leverkusen did everything but score in front of the capacity 30,210 crowd. Their players were physically strong and hard-working. Out of possession they pressed high and quickly; they effectively defended the long passes played by Roma. Their goalkeeper opened up the game to his central defenders, and they built attacks from defence and midfield, the supporting attackers enjoying freedom of movement when going forward.

"There were penetrating runs from the Leverkusen attackers," said the UEFA Technical Observer. "There was effective wing play by wing-backs supplying a lot of crosses and good combination play by the attackers, players with speed. Leverkusen applied a 3-4-3 formation until the 79th minute, but then the formation was changed to 2-2-4-2 to try and get a goal during the final ten minutes or so.

"Defensively Leverkusen were strong and effective and kept Roma's goalscoring chances to the minimum. Leverkusen’s mentality to work for each other in an organised manner defensively was excellent. Balance when attacking was disciplined and effective.

"Roma clearly wanted to defend the one-goal lead from the first leg and go through to the final," concluded UEFA’s Technical Observer after watching the Gaillorossi reach a fourth UEFA final, following the 1983-84 European Cup, the 1990-91 UEFA Cup and last season’s Europa Conference League success. "They achieved this because of an excellent disciplined defensive performance and a high level of understanding between their players who covered for each other."

Coaches' assessments

José Mourinho, Roma coach: "My concern isn't marking my place in the Roma history books. It’s helping these kids [players] to grow and achieve important things. It’s also helping the Roma fans who have given me so much since day one. It’s an immense joy to get to another final."

Xabi Alonso, Leverkusen coach: "Until the very end we did everything we could. We created chances and shots, but the goal just didn’t come. It was a good second leg with the small detail missing. It’s a shame, but we have to accept it. Losing after conceding just once is tough but it’s football. The fans were unbelievable tonight. Before the game, during the game and after the game. Another huge compliment to them."

Tammy Abraham, Roma forward: "We defended for the full 90 minutes. Sometimes when you’re playing against a good team you have to play like this. I’m proud of my team. I had no doubt that we’d come here to try and get a result. Fair play to my team-mates, because that game wasn’t easy. Tonight’s performance shows we have great mentality and great character.

"When I first arrived here, I told my team-mates I wanted to win trophies. Because they hadn’t won for so long, some of them never believed me. Now they’re seeing that things are coming true. Last season we made it all the way to the final, we won. This year we’re in another so hopefully we can lift another title soon."