Tactical Analysis: Boca Juniors vs. River Plate (1/2/2021)
One of the most storied rivalries in sports, Boca Juniors vs. River Plate promised to be an intense matchup. Known for their intense play style and near reckless abandon, Argentina has been a hotbed for physical football since recorded time. This rendition of the Superclásico was, of course, no different than any prior.
(Quick aside: For ~1.5 years, I worked at a pizza place owned by a Mexican man, who loved the South American and Central American leagues. They were very different from Europe, and I learned a lot while we waited for customers. My favorite difference? Gladiator mindset. As my friend Greg said, “If you leave the field without physical evidence of playing, did you even play?” Given the severity of the rivalry, physical evidence would be in abundance. Enjoy my favorite clip of this below. He kept playing after of course.)
Anyways… At kickoff, Boca Juniors began the game in a very standard 4–4–2, at times looking more like a 4–4–1–1 with one striker acting as a cover shadow on the River Plate center-backs. The formation used by River Plate was less standard, but can probably best described as a 4–1–3–2, although it morphed throughout the match. More on that later.
Almost immediately after kickoff, play style became more than apparent. Boca Juniors were willing to concede possession and exploit holes on the break, while River Plate was more willing to attack with consistency. At least that was the intentions, as it didn’t all go to plan.
Despite the hard tackles, frequent fouls, and frequent stoppages of play, it is clear early on that River Plate is attempting to stamp their mark on this match by dominating possession and forcing the ball down Boca Juniors’ throats.
To do this, Los Millionarios used some of the most basic principles of positional play. It was clear each player had three principles in mind consistently: ‘pass-move-fill.’ It emphasized consistent movement, whether it was acting as a dummy run as an attempt to draw defenders or making runs behind the lines. Each time they did this though, players would fill gaps well. More on that later as well.
For example, in the clip below, the left midfielder uses a third man run to move in behind the defense while his teammates use wide interplay to create the their first meaningful opportunity of the game.
That said, it does not go amiss that Boca Juniors had already scored by that point, with their first attack of the game. Only 10 minutes into the game, a beautiful pass from Emmanuel Mas plays Ramon Abila in on net for an easy tap in to turn the match dynamics on their head near instantly.
This was done by (a very, very nice ball from Mas) exploiting gaps in between the defenders. As Mas drives forward, Zarate escapes pressure and connects the pass. Mas, looking up and seeing Abila on the back shoulder of Diaz, plays an inch perfect pass between the centerbacks on a platter for Wanchope to tap in.
I’ll touch on Boca Juniors’ defense later, but it’s important to notice now the amount of space between Diaz and Rojas in this specific sequence. It never tightens, and Boca Juniors will exploit it for the rest of the match.
Despite the lack of possession, Boca Juniors created a lot of high quality chances, and they created them fast. This is seen through the xG, where Boca put up an impressive 0.77 in the first half, while the struggling River Plate only put up 0.31 xG.
Flipping back to the River Plate channel, we can see some of their other patterns in build-up, specifically their shape while in sustained possession. A main characteristic of this was the defensive midfielder, Perez, dropping between the centerbacks. In tandem, the fullbacks used this as a cue to push high up the wings. This also triggers movement from the left-mid and right-mid who move inwards. Final movement: Carrascal pushes up to the forward line. In the end, this forms something like a 3–4–3, or a 3–4–1–2 depending on where Carrascal has drifted to. Because seriously, that man drifts all over the field.
The clip below shows movement from Perez in the defensive third, but was similar regardless of position on the field. He also does well in this clip to maintain his ability to be an option for Rojas as he kind of drives forward.
Next clip shows something similar, but this time Diaz uses Perez as cover to drive forward. This movement gave Diaz additional space for movement, while also maintaining a solid defensive structure.
Last one on River Plate’s shape, I promise.
This image is just a chain of each line, showing the 3–4–3 structure described previously.
Although these structural things are important, they’re irrelevant if there isn’t any sort of end product. Unfortunately, in River Plate’s situation, there was largely nothing to note in the first half. A perfect example of possession without purpose, River Plate maintained over 63% of the ball for the entirity of the game, while creating almost nothing.
Why did this happen?
The answer is quite simple. Boca Juniors manager, Miguel Angel Russo, deployed a mid to low block with his defense, and was more than happy to let them pass around in a semi-horseshoe pattern. His defense maintained compactness between the lines and between players. This made balls in behind near impossible and creation in the half-spaces and between the lines also near impossible.
Fortunately, there’s still one method of chance creation left. Around halftime I realized goals were likely going to come from crosses. That had been their most dangerous chance thus far, and they weren’t really doing much in the central areas of the pitch.
For the blue and gold, they’d go into half time happy that they accomplished their goals. A scoreline which read “Boca Juniors 1–0 River Plate” was an ideal scenario for Russo. At half-time, it can be mostly assumed that he told his players to keep doing *exactly* what they were doing. It was working seamlessly, and River Plate hardly created anything meaningful.
(A few important yellow cards also came in the first half. Buffarini (Boca), Campuzano (Boca), and Carrascal (River Plate).)
The Second Half
Before the half even started, Marcelo Gallardo made two substitutions, both like-for-like replacements. Bruno Zuculini came out for Ignacio Fernandez, and Matias Suarez came on for Lucas Beltran. Just a bit of fresh legs to the game, Fernandez will eventually make his mark later.
Even with fresh legs, Boca came out firing harder than River Plate. A couple of good opportunities weren’t converted, and the score maintained it’s 1–0 line.
(I mean LOOK AT THAT SPACING by the defense. Russo would never let his shape look like this. Serious failure on Gallardo’s part, and probably would’ve won him the game, preventing the first goal.)
A bit later, Boca’s press exemplified Russo’s (presumed) tactics. A quick poke tackle and through ball gave them another attack on a disjointed River Plate defense, but the lack of support for the Boca player left him isolated, and the defender was able to shut down the move.
Just a few minutes prior to the clip above, Russo made two substitutions, like-for-like again. Replacing the strikers, impact was seen immediately. Soon thereafter, Campuzano made a dumb challenge and received his second yellow card of the match. Fortunately for Boca, they were already in the drivers seat and the solution was simple. Cardona was replaced by a defender (but not before Enzo Perez picks up his *first* yellow card of the match) and Boca Juniors switched into a 4–4–1.
Few more substitutions, including Carrascal, who I’d like to touch on quickly. At 22 years old, the Columbian showed up in a big way, in a big match. Despite not contributing directly to any G/A, Carrascal was the only glimmer of attack in a very dull first 65 minutes from RP. I will likely follow up this post with some boredom-fueled charts looking at his actual profile as a player.
Less than 15 minutes later, River Plate capitalize on this and smash home one of the most awkward headers I have personally ever seen.
And I mean really, WHAT A SURPRISE, the goal came from a cross. I audibly cheered when this happened, not because I give a damn about River Plate, but because I predicted the future.
Anyways, 3 minutes later, same thing. Well guided header into the back side of the net puts River Plate (undeservedly) 2–1 up.
And now here we are, with the game completely flipped on its head within a two minute span. This is why we all love football folks.
~3 minutes later, Enzo Perez makes another boneheaded tackle and recieves his second yellow. Gallardo elects to do essentially nothing except shift his lines backwards, creating a 4–3–2.
Few minutes after, Boca get their revenge and put up the equalizer. Really enjoyed this goal though because it employed some of my favorite technical movements while also combining the tactical issues I’ve mentioned prior.
First we see Tevez doing well to hold up the ball, triggering the countering run from Sebastian Villa. While this was a quality goal from Tevez and Villa, it is also important to point out once again the issue I’ve been crying about this entire piece. What is this spacial awareness from the center-backs? Basically gifted Tevez a wide open lane where he could place a perfectly weighted pass through. And props to Villa, he decided to finish the difficult way and still pulled it off.
More on this below from my good friend Jamie, who explains how pinning can be used as a trigger for runs behind. Tevez does an exceptional job of queueing the run from Villa through the pin.
Final Result and Grades
In the end, this was a game that both managers will look back on and probably wish they had came away with three points, but for different reasons.
River Plate and Marcelo Gallardo: B+
This was certainly a game that slipped from his hands. A poorly coordinated defense ruined a quality performane from his front line, but generally he handled this game well. An adaptation to the low and tight block was needed, and Gallardo found a way to break through.
Boca Juniors and Miguel Angel Russo: A
I would not want to be in the locker room after that game. Despite Russo preparing them with the perfect tactics to go out and win this game, Boca failed their mission in the 74th and 77th minutes, conceding headers that should have been defended better. Overall though, the entirity of the team played exceptional, especially given the red card with twenty minutes left remaining in the game. They were able to stick to tactics and maintain their directive even when their normative shape was disturbed.
