Against Manchester City in the round of sixteen, Federico Valverde fired the Bernabéu up with a stellar performance, banking a hat-trick to secure qualification to the next round.
In the “Dissecting Federico Valverde’s Stellar Performance Against Manchester City” piece, we wrote:
Federico Valverde was the secret, and the main champion against Manchester City. The Uruguayan acted as an extra defender, a target for long balls, and a forward attacking space.
That’s what exactly former manager Zinedine
Zidane said about the Uruguayan in the 2019/20 season after the game at Bernabeu against Paris Saint-Germain in the group stages: “We have all seen how he is a ‘box-to-box’ player, capable of being in every position and with a great acceleration.”
After eight games of playing him as pivot, Jose Mourinho came to the same conclusion in regards to Federico Valverde’s position. In the first half against Villarreal this past weekend, he received passes more in deeper areas or in the half-spaces.
Also, his first-half actions map shows that his activity was evenly spread across the pitch.
In the middle of the first half against Villarreal, Trent Alexander-Arnold inverted as a situational pivot alongside Aurelien Tchouaméni, while Valverde advanced, operating in the right half-space.
In the second half, Valverde completely tilted towards the right, either as a right midfielder swinging between hugging the touchline, narrowing inside, or as a right-back:
One of the goals behind deploying Valverde in such a position immediately surfaced. After skipping past Alex Freeman, Yan Diomandé attempted to cross the ball into the box. Even though the box is underloaded — because Kylian Mbappé doesn’t commit with a run to push the backline deeper — it’s noticeable from Valverde’s run that the intention here is to take advantage of his late arrivals into the box to find a shot or to counter-press:
In the second half, Arda Guler dictated play from slightly deeper, behind Federico Valverde in the same channel. The former, with his passes, broke down Villarreal’s midfield line, and Valverde, with his carrying, took the play further up the pitch:
Should Mbappé commit with a forward run to drag Villarreal’s backline toward their goal, Valverde might have capitalized on that space to pull the trigger or access Diomandé quickly before the Submarines have retreated.
After taking off Alexander-Arnold in the seventh minute of the second half for Vinicius Junior, Federico Valverde filled the Englishman’s spot. Ten minutes later, Valverde drifted infield with the ball before sliding a through-ball to Diomandé, who scored Real Madrid’s first and only goal.
At the right-back spot, Valverde demonstrated a sense of anticipation to intercept passes before arriving at the target. Not only that, but he benefited from his acceleration and carrying over long distances, exploiting big spaces in counterattacks.
Against Manchester City last season, Valverde was a target to receive Thibaut Courtois’ long launches, or he latched onto second balls from the right side. Below, he gets behind Diomandé, who doesn’t manage to win first contact with the ball. Valverde collects the knockdown between Villarreal’s lines and releases Mbappé behind the backline into a goalscoring position.
It’s no wonder that Valverde’s best performances came down the right side. It maximizes his ability, as he possesses an elite engine, can progress via his carrying, arrive late in the box, act as a target, cling into second balls, and proceed with runs behind the defensive lines.
