The first Champions League quarterfinal leg between PSG and Manchester City was a frustrating evening for the French champions, as they were unable to capitalize on their dominance early on. Instead, Manchester City left Paris with two away goals that could be decisive in the next leg, despite their overall poor performance.

Paris Saint Germain were without Marco Verratti due to injury, meaning Adrien Rabiot took his place in the starting selection. Edinson Cavani also started, put on the left side of PSG’s front three that Lucas Moura has played throughout the year. The French champions were aligned in a 4-3-3, as they have been most of the year.

Manchester City had to cope injuries from their captain Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure and Raheem Sterling. Fernandinho and Fernando formed their midfield partnership in their midfield two, and the visitors were boosted by the recent return of Kevin De Bruyne. City were set up in a 4-2-3-1, Manuel Pellegrini’s preferred formation for his team throughout the season.

Paris Saint Germain Attack

After some threatening counterattacks early on, PSG then organized their attack to much greater success. PSG’s attack was centrally oriented, with Edinson Cavani and Angel Di Maria each positioned in the halfspaces more often than not and essentially all the width in the team was derived from the fullbacks.

Manchester City were defensively shaped in a 4-4-2, with De Bruyne pushing up alongside Aguero. With Thiago Motta dropping back to split the center backs and form a chain of three (la salida lavolpiana), PSG’s first phase and progression up in the midfield and attacking zones was met with little resistance.

The general structure of their buildup was more or less a 3-4-1-2, as both Maxwell and Serge Aurier pushed up to the same midfield line as Rabiot and Matuidi. Zlatan Ibrahimovic would drop in between the defensive and midfield lines of Manchester City to link the midfield and attack. Cavani and Di Maria then took up wide positions with the purpose of making diagonal runs in behind, or took up positions more centrally to act as auxiliary strikers.

The most prominent property of PSG’s attack however was the free form nature of it. Contrary to other top clubs in Europe in which their attack is highly structured positionally, PSG’s is much more free form. There definitely is a recognized structure of the attack; however, the movements of the front three plus Blaise Matuidi are unique among Europe’s elite. Di Maria and Matuidi in particular were the standout examples of this, demonstrating a high degree of fluidity with their teammates.

Angel Di Maria was given license to roam any where on the pitch, popping up in empty spaces all across the field. Generally he stayed in the right halfspace or on the wing itself, but he often pinched inside and dropped deep, going behind the midfield line on a couple of occasions. Blaise Matuidi’s energy and stamina allowed him to alternate his roles as a third midfielder and a fourth attacking option in the final third, rarely leaving the left halfspace in the process.

Matuidi would regularly support and interchange with Cavani, sometimes becoming the highest player of them all. City had a hard time tracking him at points, with his late supporting movements creating advantageous scenarios for PSG, which they were unable to convert.

The fluid nature of PSG’s attack helped with making connections and combinations for chance creation. Combinations have been a key part of their attack throughout the season, using them to break between defensive lines and create chances. The central positioning of the wide players aided this greatly, as it allowed for quicker ball circulation and progression. Many combinations however ended with an errant pass and giveaway to the opponent.

Manchester City struggled to cope with Paris’ early moves because of the diagonality of their passing, unable to shift as a team and limit PSG. As a result, they spent the first 35 minutes in their own half, failing to generate any serious attacking changes after Aguero turned David Luiz in the first minute leading to a yellow card.

Issues

Yet PSG also had many problems of their own in attack. Their finishing on the day was not clinical. The main goal threat Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed a penalty kick, 1v1 with Joe Hart, and hit the crossbar later on. He only scored due to bizarre deflection after he pressed Fernando off of a goal kick in one of the most comically bad goals I have ever seen. Various technical errors took place when it came to converting scoring chances or creating them in the first place.

Due to the free form positioning of the team, PSG occasionally lacked central access in between defensive and midfield lines on occasion, stagnating their attack and allowing City to control the middle. Essentially, PSG were very inconsistent in their buildup organization and their shape as a result.

PSG’s build-up structure also left them vulnerable when they lost the ball during phase one. Since Maxwell and Aurier were pushed up, Thiago Motta would be left with David Luiz and Thiago Silva if the ball was lost. Manchester City were structured to counterattack when the opportunity presented itself, as the front four were direct in their movement whenever City regained possession. Kevin De Bruyne opened up the scoring thanks to this, as he ran into the right halfspace where Maxwell would’ve normally defended had he not been 30 yards further forward.

In summary, PSG’s attack was eccentric compared to the attacks of Europe’s top clubs. It has some of the same properties when it comes to formation, but the mobility between players is quite different. Laurent Blanc grants a lot of creative freedom to his front players positionally when attacking, compromising clean structures and transitions as a result. While it can lead to moments of individual excellence, it also has its fair share of flaws.

Defensive Problems for Both Teams

Manchester City were fortunate that their defensive mistakes did not lead to goals. The most glaring issue of theirs was compactness, especially between the back four and the midfield four. Since City played a zonal marking scheme with strong man orientations, their compactness was compromised at points. The midfielders in particular were often times more worried about the man they were covering at the time than the collective shape of the team, leaving large spaces open for PSG to play with.

City’s attempts to play a high line early on were wildly unsuccessful, as Mangala and Otamendi were never quite on the same wavelength with each when commanding the back four. Consequently, problematic situations followed, seen in the early chances for Blaise Matuidi and Angel Di Maria. Mangala would often be pulled out by the movement of Ibrahimovic, opening up the space in behind him if the proper run was made. Otamendi preferred to remain in line with the rest of his defenders, which in turn created a staggered shape between the center backs that could easily be played around.

Both clubs were especially weak in their defensive transitions. City’s midfield was often lazy in getting back into position and were bypassed quickly, leaving the back four isolated. In addition, there was no organized counterpress from Manchester City. Sergio Aguero and De Bruyne did next to nothing to aid ball recovery efforts for Manchester City, really just taking up space and preventing passes from progressing. PSG’s defensive transitions were sloppy and not well organized. Players had no visible reference point to refer to when getting back to position and took up the spots they felt fit the situation.

Lastly, players on both teams were subject to individual errors that either directly led to goals or almost did. David Luiz was my pick for worst defender of the night, as his positioning and awareness throughout the night was woeful (especially with De Bruyne’s goal), continuing to prove to be the most overvalued defender in world football.

Conclusion

For such a important fixture, the level of the match was disappointing. While PSG were the better team for the most part, simple errors prevented them from stamping their authority on the tie. As a result, Manchester City leave Paris with the away goal advantage, giving Manuel Pellegrini plenty of potential gameplans to use for leg two next week.

Paris Saint Germain demonstrated some of their weaknesses as a team during this match, as facing somewhat equal competition around their level for the first time in a while highlighted these flaws. While PSG have the personnel to be a Top-5 side in Europe, tweaks to the team’s attack are needed if they are to hit that next level between the good teams in Europe and the continental elite.

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