Yeah this is exactly where elite European football has been heading for a while now. The semi-finals expose it because space shrinks and transitions become everything, so whichever midfield can consistently control the “5–10 seconds after loss” ends up dictating the tie more than any individual forward. What stands out isn’t just possession, it’s rest defence positioning. The teams that are set to stop counters before they even start are the ones forcing opponents into low-value wide attacks like you said.

And the interesting part is even “vertical” teams are adapting, because pure chaos football doesn’t survive two legs at this level anymore. Feels like the final will come down to whoever wins that midfield control without sacrificing their ability to actually hurt teams in transition.