Anatomy of a Goal: How Bayern's counter-pressing blew up Juventus' defensive shape

Bayern Munich and Juventus delivered a rousing show Tuesday at the Italian club's eponymous stadium, with a fascinating 2-2 draw displaying the attributes that make each side so difficult to defeat - chiefly, Juventus' almost imperious defensive structure, and Bayern's devastating counter-pressing system.

Related: Everything you need to know about Tuesday's engrossing Champions League action

From the start of the contest, Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri's tactical decision was clear; sit extremely deep, cut off everything through the middle of the pitch, funnel Bayern out wide and clear the crosses when they were whipped into the area - most often by the defender's nightmare known as Douglas Costa.

This was a theme throughout the evening, with Bayern's territorial dominance beginning at the opening whistle and not subsiding until roughly the hour mark. Utilising a makeshift backline that employed all-world Swiss Army knife David Alaba and midfielder Joshua Kimmich in central defense, the Bavarian club camped out in the Juventus half in the opening stanza.

The only thing missing were the s'mores.

(Courtesy: Squawka)

Alaba (97), Kimmich (93), and Arturo Vidal (109), who dropped deep and split the two "centre-backs" for most of the contest, combined to complete 299 passes Tuesday. Juventus put together 253 as a team.

Alaba striding forward with the ball, well beyond the halfway line, was a staple of the half:

Slagged after the match for what was perceived as a negative, nervous approach unbefitting of a club playing at home, Allegri's approach was largely effective.

Yes, Bayern Munich annexed Juventus' side of the pitch and owned the ball almost exclusively - but that didn't, for the most part, result in gilt-edged chances. Gianluigi Buffon made two saves in the first half, each coming on shots from outside the penalty area. (We'll get to that Thomas Muller missed chance in a minute).

The plan was working - right up until Bayern's counter-press ruined it.

This was Juventus' defensive shape in the buildup to Muller's opening goal - all ten outfield players behind the ball (Leonardo Bonucci, Stephan Lichtsteiner, and Juan Cuadrado are off to the left, not pictured):

Once again, the Old Lady's ability to choke off service through the middle comes to the fore, as Kimmich tries to squeeze a pass into Philipp Lahm that is cut off. The ball pings around for a second, and falls to the feet of Sami Khedira.

Point, Allegri.

Then, just when the Bianconeri should be in the clear and in position to hit on the break, Bayern's counter-press blows everything up. As the stout midfielder rumbles towards the centre circle, he's swarmed by three Bayern players, with Lahm and Thiago tracking back, and Vidal - as he did so often in the match from his deep-lying role - stepping up to win the ball back immediately.

Point, Pep Guardiola.

Juventus, so organized and disciplined, allowing almost no space to the German side in the attacking third - with the exception of one open-net tap-in (that Robert Lewandowski and Muller conspired to somehow botch) - is suddenly scrambling.

After essentially playing the entire half with all 10 men behind the ball, Bayern's ability to counter-press leaves the Italian side caught with bodies up the field.

After being faced with a black-and-white-striped wall for 43 minutes, Bayern was finally afforded some space, able to actually have possession inside the penalty area with only five defenders - and the retreating afro of Cuadrado - offering resistance. This is the moment Arjen Robben sent his ball floating across the penalty area, with Juventus desperately trying to get back into something resembling a solid defensive structure:

When Costa taps the ball back across the goal, it comes off Andrea Barzagli and falls directly to Muller, who is standing all alone at the penalty spot. The angular German - following a match in which he found the net with an absurd, gangly bicycle kick - was never going to spurn this chance:

Note the positioning of Claudio Marchisio (second Juve player from the right, beside Patrice Evra) the deepest of Juventus' midfielders. Tasked with playing in front of the back-four, Marchisio often finds himself defending on the edge of his own penalty area. But in his haste to retreat behind the ball after the change of possession outlined above, he ends up sitting on his own 6-yard line. That allows Muller - one of the world's best at finding and exploiting dead spaces inside the penalty area - to finish one of his easiest chances of the campaign.

Allegri's men executed their defensive plan reasonably well in Tuesday's enthralling contest at the Juventus Stadium, but Bayern Munich is widely accepted as the second-best team on the planet for many reasons. The ability to force you into an error with a dogged counter-press - and then ruthlessly capitalize on your defensive disorientation - is one of them.