Hi Everyone,
a few more first-leg matches from the knockout round of the UEFA Champions League were played last week, including one between Juventus of Italy and FC Porto of Portugal. In this edition of the Soccer Fitness Gols Video Blog, we discuss this match and in particular, the plays by Porto’s left back Alex Telles, which led to two consecutive yellow cards (and of course one red card) in the 25th-27th minutes.
A key take-home message for young soccer players and coaches from this blog is the importance of the defending principle of “restraint”, and how in many cases, players applying pressure on the ball need to learn and better understand how to use this principle when they apply pressure.
I hope you like it an as always, I welcome your thoughts/comments!
Soccer Fitness Gols 
Hey Richard good technical and tactical analysis of that situation with Telles.I watched the game as well, and to your comments I would add a 3rd elemeny that in that case, and at that level, needs to be managed or learned to be managed:Emotions.
It was clear that in a charged environment like the dragons stadium, his inexperience, the importance of the match and expectations from the fans,Telles lost his head and was overtaken but the emotional state of the game.A costly lesson learned.
Raffable Tomarchio
Thanks Rafael! Agreed – I think it is probably much harder for players to use restraint when they are not in control of their emotions. This is a challenge of coaching at that level!
I would say dealing with and preparing players for the emotions of a moment are a challenge for coaches at any level either tournaments cup matches ect. I do agree that Restraint is important and sometimes the hardest principle to coach.
Thanks Shaun! In my opinion, the principle o restraint, and the management of emotions in a big game, are intertwined and need to be addressed at the same time. Thanks for your comment and feedback!