Real Madrid – Villarreal: Emery And Ancelotti Fight For Tactical Dominance In Scoreless Draw (0-0)

Unai Emery’s midfield trio dominated Real Madrid in the first half of the match, but Carlo Ancelotti’s half-time adjustments made Real Madrid more competitive in the second half. A formation change and the introduction of Eduardo Camavinga gave Real Madrid a new outlet in attack, which helped them pin Villarreal into their own defensive third for much of the second half of the match.

Tactical report and analysis by Charlie Tuley.

Real Madrid entered LaLiga matchday seven with a chance to create a five point gap over second-placed Atlético Madrid and Sevilla with a win over Villarreal. Carlo Ancelotti’s men had been in spectacular form of late, as they had scored twenty-one goals in six matches this season and were on a four-match winning streak in LaLiga.

Ancelotti made two personnel changes to his lineup that thrashed Mallorca 6-1 in the mid-week fixture, as regulars Casemiro and Luka Modrić returned to the starting eleven and Miguel Gutierrez and Eduardo Camavinga were moved to the bench. Federico Valverde started in the right back position, as Dani Carvajal suffered a long-term injury against Valencia last weekend and Lucas Vazquez has failed to replicate his excellent form in the role from last season. Nacho switched sides to play as the team’s left back, and Marco Asensio started ahead of Modrić and Casemiro in midfield. The forward line of Benzema, Vinícius Júnior, and Rodrygo was unchanged from Real Madrid’s last match.

https://twitter.com/jcperez_/status/1441833959172812808

Villarreal were without talisman Gerard Moreno, as well as young forward Samu Chuckwueze . . .

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Charlie Tuley is a junior studying sport management at the University of Michigan. He currently works as a data analyst for the San Jose Earthquakes, and does freelance football analytics on Twitter under the name @analyticslaliga. [ View all posts ]

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