vs
Team EAP
Formation: 4-3-3
Strong defence with Tassotti making way for Viv Anderson, a tall and rangy player who's perhaps a bit underappreciated in his era. Was a strong defender who was good at providing overlapping width too.
Lerby and Schuster provide the base of defensive midfield. Kind of like Keane/Scholes, they have a good blend of workrate, defensive solidity and ability to bring the all from the deep.
Though represented in this fashion as a front 3, this is a fully flexible and versatile front 3 with players roaming and switching positions as the game flows.
I do believe that the tactics and version chosen reduces the overlaps between Platini and Diego. This is also the version of Diego before his ego and on/off personality became trouble to accommodate.
Michel Platini - I have chosen to use the Juventus version of Platini who masterminded the game from the midfield (rather than more swashbuckling France Euro'84 version) here. Regularly dropping into deeper areas and running the game with his distribution and late runs forward, he pretty much ran the game for them.
This video offers a fantastic glimpse into how effective Platini was from the deeper midfield.
Diego Maradona - This here is a younger pre-Napoli Maradona. Though technically slightly before his peak, but it still was when he twice broke the record for the most expensive transfer (Boca to Barca and then from Barca to Napoli) of his time. He regularly played upfront as a striker or support striker in a front 2 (for Argentina) or front 3 (for Barca). Still a free role forward, he roamed all over the box swapping sides regularly to great effect.
This was also peak-scoring Diego with 28 goals in 40 games for Boca and 38 goals in 58 games for Barca! His scoring never reached the same rates as he moved deeper in to full #10 later on in his career.
Team Pro
Decided to stick with the 4-2-2-2 from the previous round. It works because not only do we have two excellent attacking full-backs in Lahm and Cabrini to provide width, but the front four of KDB, Iniesta, Messi, and Henry are all comfortable floating between wide and central areas, making them incredibly difficult to pick up. KDB will be more direct in his driving central runs to support the front two, while Iniesta frequently drifts infield to aid the build-up play. Given the insane technical quality of not only our midfield and attack but also our back four (Lahm and Scirea in particular), we should dominate possession regardless of the opposition.
Out of possession, we drop into a medium block with an intense press once the ball approaches the halfway line. KDB and Iniesta cover the flanks, while Messi, who still has a high-defensive work-rate in this phase of his career, comes inside to press the deepest opposition midfielder. Should you get past our hard-working attackers and the double-pivot of Rodri and Schweinsteiger, you then have to deal with a back four of Lahm-Nesta-Scirea-Cabrini with Buffon behind them. When we win the ball, we have terrifying counter-attacking potential with Messi, Henry, and KDB carrying the ball forward and/or picking out the killer pass; if such an opportunity doesn't present itself immediately, we recycle possesion and keep probing until one of our creative geniuses is able generate an opening.