The Rosenborg players quickly followed Coach Johansen's game plan and arrayed themselves into a 4-3-3 triangular formation. Thomas Partey settled into the holding midfield role while Zachary and Takumi Minamino were the attacking midfielders. The three of them quickly built a good rapport and started dominating play in the middle of the pitch. Due to their efforts, Rosenborg even hoarded a large percentage of the ball possession during the first 10 minutes of gameplay.
On the other hand, the Sevilla players settled into a 4-2-3-1 formation to weather Rosenborg's dominance on the pitch. They utilized Stéphane Mbia and Daniel Carriço as the two holding midfielders to support their four defenders. Anyone watching the game could tell that they intended to play a very defensive game against the seemingly weaker Rosenborg side. They obviously hoped to snuff out any chances of Rosenborg scoring a goal.
