Real Madrid La Decima Tactic

This moment defined Real Madrid’s history for the following decade. And it all started with the hunt for La Decima.

In June 2013, Carlo Ancelotti was appointed manager of Real Madrid, succeeding Jose Mourinho. The task wasn’t easy for the Italian manager and not only because of Real Madrid lofty ambitions.

At the time, Jose Mourinho improved the Spanish club’s gameplay and outlook, but he left with a bit of a scandal. He had a fallout with the dressing room leadership figures and that led to a bit of a disarray at the club. Allegedly.

Carlo Ancelotti held managerial positions at several clubs before joining Los Blancos, the most prominent one being the period he spent at AC Milan between 2001 – 2009.

After leaving AC Milan, he led Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, but the results weren’t the same.

During the first transfer window under Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid brought in Isco, Asier Illaramendi and Gareth Bale and sold Mesut Ozil and Gonzalo Higuain among others.

Ancelotti started the season with a 4-2-3-1 system, but quickly changed to the old 4-3-3 setup, used during the Jose Mourinho era. The team had the players to make it work.

Despite leading in the league table on multiple occasions, Real Madrid finished the season in third place, level on points with Barcelona and three behind their rivals Atlético Madrid, collecting 87 points in total and scoring a record 104 goals.

Los Blancos, however, won the Copa del Rey thanks to the winning goal scored by Gareth Bale.

But, the major result came in the UEFA Champions League.

The 2014 UEFA Champions League final was the 59th edition in the competition’s history, and the 22nd one since it was renamed as the UEFA Champions League.

The final brought together Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid and became the final stage of the hunt for La Decima, for Los Blancos.

Both teams won their groups, earning 16 points, so the early signs were there. The funny thing is that Real Madrid faced only German clubs on the path to the final, with Schalke, Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munchen.

In parallel, Atletico Madrid’s opponents were diverse in terms of country of origin, with AC Milan, FC Barcelona and Chelsea.

The final was the first final in the history of the competition to be disputed by two teams from the same city.

It was also the second all-Spanish final, after the 2000 one between Real Madrid and Valencia, and the fifth final between teams from the same country, the others being 2003 (Italy), 2008 (England), and 2013 (Germany).

That was a record-breaking final for Los Blancos, being the 13th one the team has reached in the competition and the 17th European one in their history.

Atletico Madrid, however, just won the La Liga a week prior, disputing it until the last second against Barcelona. And the Champions League was their second European final in 40 years.

The match started strong and both teams went at it, trying to score first. But, against expectations maybe, Ateltico Madrid scored the first goal, taking advantage of a mistake made by the legendary Iker Casillas, who mistimed coming out of his line to deflect a ball. Diego Godin smashed all La Decima dreams in the 36th minute.

The second half saw Real pushing forward as they went in search of an equaliser to deny Atlético's first Champions League title, with manager Carlo Ancelotti making a double substitution to replace Fábio Coentrão and Khedira with Marcelo and Isco. Atlético defended with all players and Real missed several chances.

However, as the seconds ticked like hours for both teams, fate decided that the game was too good to end in regular time. And trough a clean header from Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid equalized in stoppage time and revived their dream, crushing Atletico’s in the process.

The extra time came, and it was all Real Madrid. Unfortunately for them, Atletico seemed down, without being able to come back up after the equalizer and Real took advantage, scoring another 3 goals to settle the final 4-1 and kick starting one of the most dominant periods in the competition’s modern history.

Tactically, both managers – Carlo Ancelotti and Diego Simeone went after the trophy with all they got. And if it weren’t for the stoppage time set piece goal, Diego Simeone’s defensive wall would have won his team the trophy.

Carlo Ancelotti, remaining faithful to the 4-3-3 system, attacked and attacked until a crack was open and his team burst through it and avenged all the missing chances they had during the game.

And the final, in my opinion, was a testament for that La Liga season, which was won by Diego Simeone’s grit and calculated defensive approach.

But on the day, Real Madrid’s brilliant attack, who scored 104 goals in the league (out of which 97 scored by Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale) made the difference in the end.

The 4-3-3 tactical setup employed by Carlo Ancelotti was formed on the basis of counterattack left by Jose Mourinho and was improved through control of the ball and incisive attacks.

The are several recreations of this setup out there and the following one is my own. But, feel free to tweak it as you think it’s best.

A sweeper keeper on defend duty was chosen as this role, in my opinion, is the most balanced one in goal, in the game, providing defensive stability and a passing option if needed.

The back four is made of a full back on support, a central defender on defend, a ball playing defender on defend and a complete wing back on attack.

The full back role is meant to emulate Dani Carvajal’s game in that final and for most of that season. Real Madrid seem to have always preferred a more conservative right back, as opposed to the other flank.

Dribble less was added as player instruction, to make sure the player passes the ball as soon as the opportunity arises.

For the center backs, the roles can be interchanged. Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane were both capable of playing out of the back. I chose these two roles for defensive stability in the game, but both can be ball playing ones.

And the complete wing back role was chosen to emulate how Fabio Coentrao and Marcelo played on that side of the pitch. A wing back on attack may also do the job here, if you think that you need more balance in the defensive shape. Personally, having Marcelo in my mind, the complete wing back role fits better.

And because the left back pushes up the pitch often, I asked the left-sided center back to stay wider when the team has possession of the ball, to balance the defensive shape and try to stop attacks until the left back returns to his position.

For the defensive midfielder I chose a deep lying playmaker role, on defend. But given that Sami Khedira was more defensive minded and he played the final, a defensive midfielder role on defend could also work here.

Personally, I wanted to have the best of both worlds – possession and defence – through the DLP role, on defend.

The two central midfielder roles are my favourite pairing – a central midfielder on support and a box-to-box midfielder. Angel Di Maria controlled his side of the pitch very well and seemed to play like a box-to-box player during that season. In game, he was a combination of the carrilero and the box-to-box role.

Luka Modric on the other hand, was the passing hub of the team. Picking up the ball and finding his teammates with pinpoint passes in attack. But, these two roles are also interchangeable.

I haven’t added any player instructions for the central midfielder, which means that in the game, the player will prioritise the play based on their player traits most likely.

For the box-to-box midfielder I added the player instructions of more direct passes, run with the ball and stay wider.

The BBC trio, as it was dubbed that season, is made of an inside forward on attack, a trequatista and a complete forward on support duty.

Gareth Bale, in the final and in that season, cut inside often with the ball, breaching the opposition’s defence and scoring goals often. For this reason, I chose this role.

However, choosing an in-game role for Cristiano Ronaldo in his prime is very difficult. I usually go for an inside forward on attack for him, as well. But for that final and especially that season, I feel like he was more of a very creative and clinical striker and the only role I found fitting is the trequartista one.

Of course, I asked him to cut inside with the ball, to try to fully emulate his gameplay.

And the striker, Karim Benzema, seemed to prioritise creating goalscoring chances for his attacking teammates before trying to score himself. And this role and this duty seem to fit that gameplay the best.

I chose positive as mentality.

In possession, fairly wide attacking width, pass into space and play out of defence. If your opponent sits deep, tick pass into space off as there would be little space to pass into.

Sightly shorter or standard passing directness and a slightly higher tempo. Play for set pieces and of course, having a collection of such talented players calls for the be more expressive team instruction.

But tick it off if the players in your squad are not at the level Real Madrid’s were at during that season.

In transition, counter-press, counter and distribute the ball to the defence.

And out of possession, a mid block and a higher defensive line. And trigger press more often. The same as the last couple of seasons in real life, Carlo Ancelotti seemed to have preferred a mid block, to let the opposition build up from the back and catch them in the midfield battle, before going on the counter when possible.

Using this tactic, we were almost unbeaten in the league in my modified database, building a nation save in Romania with FCSB. In other competitions, we won the Romanian Cup.

The 2013-2014 season was special for many reasons. For Atletico Madrid was special as they won the league title and played another European final after 40 years. And for Real Madrid because they won the La Decima – 10th – Champions League trophy.

You may love or hate what happened during that Champions League final, but one thing remains. This tactic and the many ways it can be recreated.