This is How XAVI/BARCELONA DESTROYED PSG 😱
Barcelona crushed Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes!
UN-BE-LIEVABLE! The team that everyone wrote off back in January is now one of the MAIN FAVOURITES to win the UCL!
Why are Barça so strong and how did they beat PSG?
What was the guests' tactical plan for the game?
Right from the first minutes, the Catalans were lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Sergi Roberto and Frenkie de Jong operating as defensive midfielders - Gündogan was positioned higher, responsible for launching counterattacks. We can safely say that the team was arranged in three lines: 4-4-2. Barca showed a very disciplined performance in terms of its positioning and left PSG not much space - the Parisians, in turn, were lined up in a 4-3-3 formation with Asensio as the false nine.
Xavi's main task was to minimize the free space for the most threatening oppositional players: Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele. A "collective defense system" was used against them - Mbappe was marked by Kounde, Araujo, Roberto and Yamal; while Cancelo, Cubarsi, de Jong and Raphinha were most often busy with Dembele. Everyone gave their 200% effort, that’s for sure.
Robert Lewandowski, a 35-year-old striker, was particularly impressive, covering the longest distance among Barça performers in this tie: 10.66 kilometers!
Former Barcelona player Ousmane Dembele scored, thus we can't say that he was completely neutralized. On the other hand, the future Real Madrid representative Kylian Mbappe was totally DESTROYED:
0 goals
0 assists
0 shots on target
13 times possession lost
2/10 duels won and only
1/4 dribbles completed
"Jules Koundé made Kylian Mbappe disappear on the pitch," Sport.es will write after the clash.
By the way, Mbappe received one of the lowest ratings of his career from L'Equipe - 3 on a 10-point scale. If Barça manages to stop Kylian in the second leg as well, then Barça defenders should be given a monument, especially 17-year-old Pau Cubarsi. WHAT A PERFORMANCE!
Barcelona also did everything they could to push the ball to the right attacking flank, where Ousmane Dembele received it most often - this strategy is quite understandable, because if we compare Ousmane's realization to Kylian's realization - well, these are two big differences! A clever move from Xavi!
Leave a like if you were hugely impressed with Barcelona in yesterday's match!
Another important point of Barcelona's confrontation against PSG lied in their plan to beat the Parisians' insane pressing:
"I wasn't surprised at all by Xavi's plan, clearly. Long balls to counter our press, especially when your goalkeeper is Ter Stegen and your striker is Lewandowski," Luis Enrique noted after the match.
And indeed, this tactic proved to be optimal for Blaugrana, since Robert did a great job of getting hold of the ball, winning duels, and giving the team the necessary pauses in the game, not to mention opportunities for counterattacks.
Despite the game’s defensive plan, Barcelona didn't stop pressing their opponents as soon as the circumstances were suitable for it.
Among other things, there was a proper ball possession - another trump card that can hardly be overestimated when facing PSG, a team that, like Barça, loves to be in control of the ball. Although the Red and Blues were the ones to win the battle for ball possession - 59% to 41% - the Catalans were able to slow down the pace of the match thanks to the skills of Cubarsi, de Jong and Gündogan. In this aspect, Frenkie's recovery for the match was CRUCIAL.
Barcelona realized that they had little chance in open play, especially given the speed of Dembele and Mbappe, which would be unattainable for Barca's defenders if given enough space. Therefore, the Spanish side chose a strategy of total defense with sharp aggressive lunges during transitions to attack. One of them actually resulted in the first goal: Lewandowski accelerated a counterattack, Yamal made a great diagonal pass into the box, and Raphinha successfully scored with a rebound strike.
Ter Stegen's role was no less important, as he is excellent at playing with the ball at his feet! He often initiated counterattacks with accurate long passes. Overall, the German keeper made 26 long passes to his teammates. That said, Barça made the fewest passes in this year's Champions League campaign - 416. Now you understand how powerful Paris Saint-Germain's pressure was...
The mere fact that the Catalans had 10 days to prepare for the game in Paris also made a difference - Barça were well prepared physically and certainly didn't lose to PSG in terms of speed.
Pau Cubarsí was a clear target for Paris Saint-Germain's attackers,yetthe17-year-old prodigy was one of the reasons why Barça easily countered Paris' pressure - you picked the wrong guy, folks! His long and medium range passes were accurate as usual, and Xavi couldn't hold back his praise: