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Today’s TFA Posts ⚽

Real Madrid hosted Barcelona at the prestigious Estadio Santiago Bernabéu and, after a powerful attacking performance, convincingly won the tenth La Liga fixture.

On the other hand, Barcelona’s disappointing El Clásico defeat confirms the issues within this squad and widens the gap between the two teams in the standings.

Following this game, Real Madrid is still top with 27 points while Barcelona remain second with 22.

This puts more pressure on Barcelona for the upcoming period and obliges them to win all of the forthcoming games strictly.

For Real Madrid, this win comforts everyone and will allow Xabi Alonso to work without much pressure for the coming period.

His team put on a compelling performance in one of the most decisive games of the season.

In this El Clásico tactical analysis, we will examine Real Madrid’s high-pressing plan and how it helped them gain an advantage over Hansi Flick’s Barcelona and limit their playmaking, while exploring Barcelona’s key errors and what they lacked in attack.

Aston Villa defeated Manchester City by a slender margin of 1-0 in round 9 of the 2025/2026 Premier League.

The result saw Unai Emery’s Villa close the points gap to just one, leaving City in fifth place.

Meanwhile, the hosts are now in eighth, just behind Liverpool on goal difference.

Villa put in a commendable defensive display, allowing Man City just two shots in the first half and a total of just two big chances in the entire game.

Along with this, both sides had similar numbers for total passes, opposition box touches, and final third entries; this indicates that the hosts showed formidable attacking intent.

Through this tactical analysis, we will examine how the Villans kept Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City out, created their chances, and scored the winner in the process.

The Sunday games in the Bundesliga are always reserved for the teams that play in the minor European competitions, so a couple of the best teams in the league always play in them.

This Sunday, VfB Stuttgart hosted 1. FSV Mainz 05 for the last game of the eighth matchday this season.

VfB Stuttgart and their head coach, Sebastian Hoeneß, have been on a roll lately.

They have won four straight Bundesliga games, shown great class, and climbed the table into the top four.

After winning the DFB-Pokal last season, the club qualified for the UEFA Europa League, but their last two games in the competition were rather rough losses against FC Basel and Fenerbahce.

For Mainz and Bo Henriksen, things look a lot different.

While their season in the UEFA Conference League is off to a great start with two wins from two games, the team has only managed to win one out of the first seven games in the Bundesliga, placing them in the relegation zone.

Both teams approached the game differently.

Hoeneß opted to rotate nearly his entire team, while Henriksen trusted his usual starting XI.

In this tactical analysis, we will examine the different approaches of the two coaching staffs, how the game unfolded, and what tactical measures decided the game in favour of VfB Stuttgart.

TFA Archives 📆

AC Milan in 3rd place take on Atalanta as they try to fight for a Scudetto.

Take a look at Massimiliano Allegri's tactics for the 2025/2026 season as they aim for that trophy.

Fulham take on Wycombe Wanderers in round 16 of the EFL Cup.

They spent a club-record £34.6m to sign Brazilian winger Kevin from Shakhtar Donetsk.

Take a look at his scout report and what he can bring to the English side this season.

Kylian Mbappé made history over the weekend by becoming the third player this century to score in four consecutive games between Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Take a dive back into his 2020 scout report to see his progression over the years.

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