In the opening minutes, Berlin attempted to employ zonal marking on our two pivots, overloading the area to force any form of first-phase progression wide.

We managed to bypass it mostly due to Rudiger consistently using his signature body feints to deceive his opponents' movements and execute switches against the momentum of the press.

He had the tactical empathy/maturity off the ball to vacate the lines and offer options to Kepa's preferred angles - he most definitely stepped up as the central conductor of the first phase in a way that was not yet visible in a white jersey.

After these initial proactive off-the-ball efforts, Berlin hasn't formed a block but has instead been forced to defend throughout the whole game:

In all game states, they made efforts to progress through wide combinations and even wanted to establish longer passing sequences -

But our inherently narrow shape with four central presences makes any central progression impossible, as our counter-press, whenever initiated after a turnover, is suffocating -

Keeping possession in their half and also controlling space high up when not in possession, we occupy all vertical channels in an instant when losing the ball and can create off-the-ball overloads given our athletic floor.

During our prolonged possession phases, we probably manipulated lines and controlled the game from a temporal point of view the best we have without playing Kroos for a very long time:

Generally, the inherent problem to solve when facing these low blocks is to move the ball horizontally at a speed that shifts the lines (which generally gravitate towards the ball) -

to spaces where the said lines do not face the ball, thus making penetration into the spaces from which danger can be created (crosses etc.) possible.

= If the defending block faces the ball optimal box entrance is LESS likely compared to when they aren't directly facing the ball.

(That's why the usual conception is to stretch the play wide, to enter zones from where the box can be penetrated in a way that is on the blindside of the defenders.)

This holds true in most cases, but another way to arrive at blindsides is the deceleration/acceleration of play to make incremental territory gain less predictable. Generally, this is what most people refer to as 'tempo' control:

Not only the horizontal shuffling of the ball but also holding onto the ball and the speed of the passes, to manipulate the timing of the ball's arrival from non-blindside to blindside.

This is sometimes viewed as an attribute a player has, but I've viewed it as more of a coordinative matter that stems from the proximity of players in valuable areas, their preferred angles, and a collective goal.

=Being horizontal and decelerating play is more of a question of collective coordination, which can be aided by some individual time benders (like Kroos), but they are not inherently necessary if the setup complements this common goal.

And that's what I saw from Madrid in this match, and that was the primary reason it was genuinely one of our best performances against a low block -

The Frenchmen and Jude already form a socio-affective relationship, always showing for passes that the other can make (considering the others weight of the pass, angle, etc.), and this performance was the first time I saw their collective PATIENCE for lane creation -

The associative play and spontaneous overloads helped in progression, but there were also many switches to isolated zones, which acted as a gravitational force, moving the block and then allowing for effective penetration into the box.

Our depth runners (Alaba too!) were finally varied in order to make them hard to pick up for the midfielders, and the sheer quality (close control, reaction time, press resistance) shone through in these wide overloads and accelerated combinations.

- allowing us to create much more against one of the best blocks in Europe than we usually do against medium-level La Liga blocks.

We created mostly with technical minimalism and counter-pressing in contrast to unpredictable individual quality - The fact that Jude floats around the pitch and is ready to receive and touch the ball in any zone largely helps our possession game.

Overall, this was a game against a (most of the time) low-block team that impressed me the most due to the collective temporal and space control of the whole team -

it's not an accident that we had the most extended passing sequences, and all our midfielders shared an insane amount of touches between them, contributing to the fact that we created so much.

Regarding the final third, I couldn't care less, and I don't think you should either. The ball will bounce in off the posts at one point; just be patient. This was a performance in terms of ball dominance and chance creation that we can build on.