Galatasaray 1-6 Real Madrid: Isco and Di Maria’s central role crucial in Ancelotti’s new system

While these are early days for Madrid’s attackers to gel well and the goals are only going to increase from here, it was the defensive midfield and centre of defence that looks shaky. Terim played a very apt tactic of not pressing down Madrid’s centre backs Ramos and Pepe. As neither of the two are really good ball-playing centre backs, often their best option was to find Khedira or either of the two full backs.

Cristiano Ronaldo: hat-trick boy

So Terim made Drogba and Yilmaz to cut out Pepe and Ramos’s route to the fullbacks by positioning the two strikers higher up the field. And similarly, Sneijder was positioned tightly onto Khedira in the centre. In fact, Sneijder was often the furthest forward through the centre on counters, and his runs into the channels behind Pepe were able to beat the offside trap easily. Galatasaray’s 4-3-1-2 in the first half was particularly impressive against such a shambolic defence, and Modric in a very Van der Vaart-like manner showed his inadequacy in defensive marking while letting Melo run past him repeatedly.

Madrid’s first goal came about when Ronaldo shifted to the right side of front two. This saw an easier route for Isco to progress through the centre, and a long ball from a now central Di Maria was expertly controlled and finished by the 21-year-old. Despite Madrid’s early striker, Galatasaray were pretty much in the race until Drogba got injured.

Drogba’s exit saw Terim shift to a lone striker based 4-4-1-1 and again Sneijder was seen in a fluid No.10 role. In fact, much of Sneijder’s role now was to pull away from Khedira in the centre and drift into the space behind Carvajal on the right. This movement brought about Yilmaz’s chance of a free header while the score was still 1-0. But from then on, Gala suffered a loss in physicality upfront and preferred to play more from the wings.

Terim’s change to bring on Bruma posed a much more direct threat, and the 18-year-old looked quite dangerous in attack. But Madrid’s defence has always been quite sturdy when attacked at directly, and their susceptibility to cover crosses from the wings was visible in Gala’s lone goal of the night.

Once Real got the 2nd goal from the Turkish side’s mistake, it was all about how much can Gareth Bale’s entry affect the game. Bale came on for Isco and slotted into the right wing role, which sent Di Maria to the left. The Argentine was still seen drifting central to overload the midfield alongside Khedira and Illarramendi. But Bale on the right was providing the directness that was missing all night. Though the Welshman was not 100%, which was stressed upon a million times by Gerry Armstrong, but he was still able to beat Riera on the wing. But more interestingly, he drifted into a No.10-ish role when Madrid were on the ball, and was able to play in Ronaldo into the channels. This resulted in 2 goals in the last 10 minutes for Madrid, with Carlo’s men now in a shape close to a 4-4-2.

Ancellotti eventual XI seems to be the current starting line-up with Bale instead of Di Maria. This sees Luka Modric in the double pivot with Khedira, and Isco providing the much needed bite by drifting into the No.10 position. On paper, this shape looks to be a pretty straightforward one, but it is Ancelotti’s choice of players in the attacking positions which seems to be a bit off at the moment.

Player of the match: Dani Carvajal

Flop of the match: Burak Yilmaz