JUVENTUS VS MILAN: A THREAD
Against all odds Milan improved their chances of qualification to the Champions League after a famous win over Juventus at the Allianz Stadium. Goals from Diaz, Rebic and Tomori sealed the victory and improved Milan’s head to head as well.

Formations
Milan started out in a rather strange line up with Hakan shifting into the LW of a 4-2-3-1 and Diaz acting as a #10 while Kjaer and Tomori started after Romagnoli appeared in the game against Benevento

Pirlo fielded his 35th different line-up in Serie opting for 4-4-2 with Chiesa on the left wing while Mckennie played on the left in a false winger role

Juventus under Pirlo has been a very inconsistent side. They defended in a narrow 4-4-2 choosing to pack the center of the park to prevent shots

Their build up varied. Building from the back, Bentancur would drop off to form a passing triangle with the CBs and Mckennie drifting in to let Cuardado overlap him

Once the ball progressed into Milans half Mckennie would push up to support Morata as a second striker while Ronaldo would drop between the lines as a make-shift Attacking mid. Chiesa meanwhile stayed wide to let Sandro underlap.

In the modern game football is about a lot of 1v1 duals. Morata was tightly marked by Tomori

Bennacer was given the tough duty of marking Ronaldo especially when he drops off

For Juventus Chiesa preferred to stay wide and let Sandro underlap him

The threat of Chiesa made sure that Calabria did not join the attack and stayed back as the 3rd CB to prevent counter attacks.

THE SELECTION OF DIAZ
Here is a breakdown of why Diaz was chosen by Pioli. As we saw in the earlier tweet, Bentancur dropped off to form passing triangles with the CB. With Zlatan not able to press like before Pioli opted to put Diaz and press the Juventus midfield 2 and it work

In attack Diaz has an uncanny ability to find space and position himself and wait for his opponents to find him

And most importantly during transitons Milan employed zonal system where Milan did not have positional play but rather attacked zones they were supposed to occupy. This made it difficult for Juve to mark.

With an extra midfielder Milan prevented Juventus overloading the wings with an extra man and this largely nullified their threat. Pioli got his tactics spot on.

Hakan is a very frustrating player. Here we can see him throwing away an easy chance and then in the second sequence putting on a peach of a pass to Theo

Kjaer was on of the man of the match yesterday. He excelled at pressing his marker, Cristiano Ronaldo almost following almost into Juve’s half

In case Juve sprang quick counters Kjaer would come off his line and assist Calabria and thwart Chiesa.

Juve’s one and only shot on target came via a clever run and flick by Morata drawing Tomori out of the way to make space for Bentancur to shoot.

In the reverse fixture Chiesa tormented Theo Hernandez and therefore fans of both sides expected Pirlo to put him on their RW. However Pirlo put Chiesa on the left and he was largety quiet until Pirlo was forced to switch Mckennie and Chiesa.

However the switch was ineffective as Chiesa and Cuardado got into each other’s way

With Ibra injured Rebic was introduced by Pioli instead of Manzukic. This was infact to negate De Ligt who was pressing forward with the ball and trying to play long balls towards Morata

Milan after missing their penalty and defending their 1-0 lead switched to a 4-5-1 formation when defending

Milan had some beautiful passing combination which unluckily did not culminate in well-deserved goals

Hakan may have not been optimal with his touches but his intelligent run was the catalyst to Rebic’s extraordinary goal. He pulled away Chiellini and De-Ligt who double marked him and this created space for a shot

HIGH RISK, HIGH REWARD
Pioli’s big gamble paid off. He risked crippling his attack by playing Diaz for further defensive stability. All 3 of Milan’s goals came via individual brilliance rather than being well worked goals.

Here we can see the risk associated with Diaz starting. Ibrahimovic was isolated in the box and Milan did not have a second striker or a winger to tap the ball in.

On another day Milan may not have taken their luck well and Pioli may have come under fire for his decision. But Milan executed their plan well and he deserves full credit for his tactical master class

END OF THREAD
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