The opening round of the 2024/25 Champions League produced goals, shocks and, according to a tactical analysis of the fixtures, some clear signals about how Europe’s leading sides intend to play this season.
A new generation, a looser structure
Thiago Motta’s first Champions League game in charge of Juventus, a 3-1 win over PSV Eindhoven, showed the build-up patterns he’s known for. In the 13th minute, Juventus used rotations to escape PSV’s press: a far-side full-back tucked infield while the ball-carrying centre-back advanced, the near-side full-back dropped to receive, and the ball was cycled through a dropping midfielder back out to the tucked-in full-back. The analysis groups this under “relationism” — fluid positioning and overloads rather than fixed shape — and links the approach to Motta alongside Xabi Alonso and Fabian Hürzeler as part of a wider shift among younger coaches.
Luring the press
Real Madrid’s opener against Stuttgart came straight from kick-off, built on what the analysis calls “locken und schocken” — lure and shock. Stuttgart pushed a 4-4-2 press high up the pitch, and Madrid played through their back line to draw them in. Jude Bellingham pulled centre-back Jeff Chabot out of position, opening the route for a long ball to Rodrygo, exploiting the pace of Madrid’s front three.
Bayern’s overload machine
Bayern’s 9-2 win over Zagreb was the round’s outlier, and the analysis singles out two goals as templates for breaking a deep block. For the second, Alphonso Davies drove into the half-space as Harry Kane dropped off, pulling a defender out of the back three; the sequence ended with Serge Guerreiro finishing after Jamal Musiala’s run into vacated space. The fifth goal followed an almost identical script, with Musiala again the one accelerating into the gap. The ninth came from a straightforward source: Joshua Kimmich crossing for Leon Goretzka to win an aerial duel he was always going to win.
Presses that paid off
Elsewhere, pressing triggers decided games. Sparta Prague’s man-oriented press forced turnovers behind Salzburg’s build-up for both their opener and third goal. Leverkusen’s space-oriented press against Feyenoord shifted numbers toward the ball to force a central turnover, setting up Florian Wirtz’s opener in a 4-0 win. Club Brugge, despite losing 3-0 to Dortmund, showed a clean method for beating a man-oriented press themselves — dropping midfielders and a forward to overload one side before switching to the far side.
Transitions and one clever wall pass
Leipzig’s opener in a narrow 2-1 defeat to Atlético Madrid came from a transition built on a 3v2 in central areas, forcing Atlético’s defenders to choose between pressing the ball and covering passing lanes. Barcelona’s build-up against Monaco offered a different solution to being outnumbered: centre-backs and defensive midfielders spread wide, with Marc-André ter Stegen threading a low pass to Robert Lewandowski as a wall player, bypassing six Monaco players in one move. The analysis suggests Monaco might have closed that gap with an extra central body and a more aggressive, space-oriented press on the goalkeeper — a reminder that even in a 2-1 loss, the fixes are visible on the tape.
What it points to
None of this settles the competition, but the round offered a look at the mechanisms — rotations, presses, transitions — that decided its opening results, and likely will again as the group stage continues.
