The space that opens when the full-back steps out 🧐

Watch Real Madrid against Inter last week. Madrid sat in a low block, wingers narrowed inside, and they let Inter's full-backs push high. That is not passivity. That is a trap -3.

When the ball turned over, Vinícius Júnior was already standing in the space behind the advanced full-back. One pass eliminated four Inter players. The passing lane to the wing had disappeared, and the lane in behind had opened.

Inter kept the ball, but the dangerous space was never theirs.

Look at where the full-back stands when his team loses it, not where he stands when they have it.

Question: When you watch a team build up, do you track the opposite full-back before or after the ball is lost?