How Real Madrid drew inspiration from Arsenal to plot Man City’s downfall | OneFootball

Real Madrid secured a berth in the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League thanks to a hard-fought victory over Manchester City.

Defensive solidity was a standout feature of Real Madrid’s performance on the night, with Los Blancos expertly containing the Man City attackers, including Erling Haaland.

While Man City still managed nine shots on target, it was the quality of shots that was kept a bare minimum thanks to some brilliant defending from Real Madrid.

To put things into perspective, Man City managed nine shots on target after attempting a whopping 33 shots on goal, which is indicative of Real Madrid’s qualitative defending on the night.

Real Madrid took a page out of Arteta’s book

Following Real Madrid’s victory, MARCA has come up with a report stating that the Spanish giants had taken a page out of Mikel Arteta’s book for their success over Man City.

The report suggests Real Madrid took inspiration from Arteta’s playbook two weeks ago when Arsenal drew with Manchester City.

Ancelotti and co studied the Arsenal defence in great detail (Photo by Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images)

Heading into the game, Real Madrid’s coaching staff, including Davide Ancelotti studied the Arsenal defence with great detail. This served as a great reference for the Real Madrid defence last night.

Sure enough, Los Blancos employed a similar strategy with two well-knit defensive lines, wide players interchanging positions and more defensive participation from the attackers.

The strategy paid off as well, with Real Madrid essentially nullifying Manchester City’s possession-play and limiting them to only a limited number of quality opportunities in front of goal.

The report adds that Davide Ancelotti was the main architect behind this defensive gameplan, with approval from Carlo Ancelotti.

And as Real Madrid prepare for the semifinal against Bayern, one can expect the Men in Whites to once again kickstart their research on the German giants, who have had a rather disappointing campaign this season.