Analysis: Manchester United

Manchester United set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic as the two deep central midfielders. Juan Mata played in the number 10 role, with support from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial out wide, while Romelu Lukaku led the attack.

United had limited time and displayed few ideas on the ball, recording only 41 per cent possession and two shots on target throughout the match. They struggled to break down Juventus’ organised out-of-possession structure, and were forced to try to exploit the wide areas, as there was seemingly no way through the centre.

In trying to advance up the pitch, Mata, Rashford and Martial would drop from higher positions to receive a vertical pass that they could either set back for a teammate to play outside to the full-back, or they would play the ball around the corner to the full-back themselves. This idea rarely allowed for penetration, but it did enable progression further up the field. They tended to focus down the right-hand side for these builds initially, but Juve’s organisation forced them to switch gradually, repeatedly and to little effect.

The home side’s other idea in possession was again to drop players (usually Mata) deeper in positions either side of the visitors’ central midfielders to receive and play forwards, or outside to advancing full-backs or wide attackers. Again, due to the organisation of their opponents, this strategy proved futile.

Out of possession, United switched between a 4-1-4-1 and a 4-4-1-1 system. They would only really press Juve from their goal-kicks or in counter-pressing situations – otherwise, they fell back into a mid-block, trying to make play predictable while making themselves difficult to break down.

The roles of Matic and Mata were the main difference between the 4-4-1-1 and 4-1-4-1 system. When play was nearer the visitors’ goal, Mata would position himself close to Miralem Pjanic to try to prevent Juve from building through him; consequently, Matic would push into the same line as Paul Pogba, Martial and Rashford to form the line of four. If play was nearer to the halfway line or in United’s half, Mata would drop back in to the same line as Pogba to try to keep Pjanic within his sight, as well as preventing passes through. Matic would then position himself between the lines to try to pick up Cristiano Ronaldo or Paulo Dybala when the pair dropped.

The United players looked to track the Juve movements as much as possible – however, this often pulled them into positions that disconnected them from their units and created spaces for their opponents to play through. Matic had a particularly torrid time when picking up Dybala or Ronaldo when they dropped to receive the ball; as they transferred play to a teammate, Matic’s eyes would remain on the ball and the Juve player he had been tracking would make a blindside run into the newly created space he had just vacated.

United were typically good at tracking their runners as they dropped, but were not so effective at tracking them when they dropped and then spun in behind. They began to perform in a less man-oriented fashion in the second half, trying to track their opponents to a point before passing players on to a teammate – this was a better strategy, but players were poor in blocking off passing lanes while tracking and passing on. In terms of their out-of-possession play, this was the standout difference between the two teams.