Italy – Germany: Second Half Resurgence For Die Mannschaft (1-2)

Italy enjoyed a good start with Sandro Tonali’s early goal, and defended diligently in their 5-3-2 shape in the first half. Julian Nagelsmann’s half-time changes made an impact though, and Germany eventually prevailed, aided by an energetic pressing game to limit Italy’s attacking threat.

Tactical analysis and match report by Josh Manley.

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Italy hosted Germany at San Siro on Thursday for the first leg of their Nations League quarter-final. Germany had progressed through the group stage of the competition unbeaten, topping their group. Italy, meanwhile, lost out on the final group matchday against France, meaning they had to settle for second place in the group.

Luciano Spalletti lined his side up in a 3-5-2 shape for this game, with Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Alessandro Bastoni, and Riccardo Calafiori in the back three, flanked by wing-backs Matteo Politano and Destiny Udogie. Nicolò Barella, Nicolò Rovella, and recent EFL Cup winner Sandro Tonali formed the midfield trio, while Moise Kean and Giacomo Raspadori were the forwards.

Germany meanwhile started in a 4-2-3-1 formation under Julian Nagelsmann with a back four of Joshua Kimmich, Jonathan Tah, Antonio Rüdiger, and David Raum. Pascal Groß and Leon Goretzka formed a double-pivot, while Nadiem Amiri, Leroy Sané, and Jamal Musiala were the attacking midfield three behind striker Jonathan Burkardt.

Italy strike early

The home side found themselves ahead within the first ten minutes after a nice switch of play by Bastoni from left to right resulted in Italy getting in behind the German defense and the ball eventually falling to Tonali in the box, who made it 1-0.

Italy’s attacks were generally sporadic after this, as they spent much of the first half defending with a back five in a mid or low block. The onus was on Germany to find a way to break down the Italian 5-3-2 formation.

From their initial 4-2-3-1 shape though, Germany actually ended up in some 3-5-2 structures themselves when they had the ball. Firstly, the fullbacks Kimmich and Raum were mostly responsible for providing the width, while the wide midfielders inverted.

One common structure for Germany in the forward areas was for Sané and Burkardt to find themselves in the right and left channels respectively, trying to stretch the Italian defense vertically.

Germany formed 3-5-2 structures when they had the ball in the first half. 

Their role in the channels functioned partly to occupy the Italian wide center-backs, thereby creating space for Amiri and Musiala, who positioned themselves in the halfspaces and looked to receive the ball in between the lines. Alternatively, Sané could move into a more central position like a number ten, from where he could try to break the game open with dribbling in more central areas.

In terms of the rest defense, the central defenders and central midfielders for Germany usually acted flexibly to form something approximating a back three, either with Groß dropping between the center backs and Goretzka as number six, or Goretzka dropping deep in the left halfspace with Groß as the number six. Musiala could also be seen dropping in the left halfspace at times in front of the Italian midfield, trying to use his combination skills to spark ball progression from here.

Germany found it difficult in the first half to really crack the Italian defense though. Italy’s wing-backs had a good handle on Germany’s attacking fullbacks, while the midfield acted flexibly to cover the central spaces.

Barella and Tonali could sometimes push up in the halfspaces to help the front two get pressure on Germany’s temporary back three in buildup, allowing them to avoid being pushed too deep. Raspadori also had some responsibility to mark whoever appeared in the German number six zone, although again the midfield three could also take this marking assignment on a flexible basis depending on the situation.

Germany turn the tables

Nagelsmann decided on a double change at half-time, replacing Raum and Burkardt with Nico Schlotterbeck and Tim Kleindienst. This paid dividends immediately, as Kleindienst nodded home Kimmich’s cross from deep just a few minutes later.

Germany’s structure in possession changed somewhat with these substitutes. Sané moved out to the left side of the attack and would be the primary width provider on this side, with Schlotterbeck staying deeper to help form a back three. This also released Goretzka to push forward more rather than staying in the rest defense. Musiala and Amiri then operated as number tens again, while Kleindienst was a more conventional number nine.

On the right side, there was an interesting dynamic, whereby Kimmich started as the primary width provider, but Rüdiger actually began to make some spontaneous overlaps from the right center-back position to try and drive opponents back and create more space for Kimmich on the ball.

Germany’s proactive approach and intensity against the ball meant that Italy barely accessed zone 14. 

The second half overall was more transitional in nature, with a more equal possession share than the first. Italy no longer had a lead to protect, so were more aggressive. The wide-ranging box-to-box roles of Barella and Tonali were seen in Italy’s possession phases, with Raspadori operating as a number ten to try and create midfield overloads, while the aforementioned number eights could make runs beyond him to support Kean.

It was the away team who got the decisive goal with fifteen minutes left though. Kimmich claimed his second assist of the night when his inswinging corner was glanced in by Goretzka running across the near post, making it 2-1 to Germany.

Their strategy for defending their lead in the final fifteen minutes was to keep maximum pressure on the ball and avoid having to defend in their own penalty box too much. Germany used a 4-2-3-1 defensive shape in which the wide midfielders stayed high and narrow in order to keep pressure on Italy’s back three when they had the ball. This was effective in rushing Italy’s buildup phases, and preventing them from gaining attacking momentum and getting good deliveries into the German box.

Takeaways

Italy had an ideal start and were able to defend in a stable manner in the first half with their 5-3-2 system. However, once Germany got back into the game in the second half, the Italian attack looked a bit blunt, and ultimately they were not able to create enough.

Germany could not quite make their attacking system work in the first half, but the second half changes paid off for Nagelsmann with a more conventional target man providing a presence in the box. The intensity against the ball was also effective in limiting Italy’s attacks, and helped earn a lead going into the second leg.

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