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PSG’s golden boy Kylian Mbappe bagged a hat-trick at the Nou Camp in PSG’s dominant 4-1 victory in the Champions League round of 16 1st Leg.
The visitors threatened to get in behind Barcelona’s back line in the opening two minutes with a ball over the top towards Mbappe but was swept up unconvincingly by Marc Andre Ter-Stegen.
The warning signs were there for Barca’s backline, to which there was a surprise inclusion as Gerad Pique made a miraculous come back from a knee ligament injury, only being out for less than three months.
Both sides were cagey in the first twenty minutes, both Ronald Koeman and Mauricio Pochettino setting their sides up in a 4-5-1 defensively and a 4-3-3 offensively.
Barcelona was finding a lot of joy in the first half with Lionel Messi being used as a free man, coming up in positions for him to get the ball at his feet and when picking up the ball in deeper positions, Frankie De Jong and Pedri looked to make forward runs in behind PSG.
This was exactly how Barcelona took the lead with Messi playing a long ball searching for De Jong, who was fouled in the penalty area by Pascal Kimpembe. Messi took the penalty and scored emphatically on the 28th minute mark.
The attacking fluidity of Barcelona was something the visitors struggled to deal with at times but there were attacking situations where Barcelona were lacking bodies in the box due to Messi play a false nine role and Ousmane Dembele hugging the right hand flank aiming to stretch the PSG defence, however when most of the first half was being played down the left hand side, it left the French winger out of the game.
Also, with both managers liking to get full backs forward, there were times where Barca had no one in the box to aim for and always going backwards in those positions.
Meanwhile for PSG’s fullbacks, when they got into attacking positions both wide attackers, Moise Kean and Mbappe joined Mauro Icardi in the box, which gave them a lot more options when getting into dangerous positions.
It took five minuets for the Parisians to equalise, the move started with full back Layun Kurzawa out wide, Kurzawa seemed like he had all the time in the world to pick out a pass as he caught out Barca’s winger Dembele for not tracking back. The Frenchman played the ball into Marco Verratti, who played a cutely flicked the ball into Mbappe for his first of the evening. The striker showed great skill and composure to beat fellow Frenchman Clement Lenglet and finished emphatically.
In his first ever game against Barcelona, Kylian Mbappe scores!
Fancy footwork and an emphatic finish ? pic.twitter.com/9pvjv3gzhd
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 16, 2021
The visitors did find joy down the left-hand side as Barcelona’s hot prospect full back Sergino Dest, the American seemed to always be isolated with Mbappe and Kurzawa, due to Dembele unwilling to track back.
Pochettino took former Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye off at half time and replaced him with Ander Herrera due to Gueye in danger of receiving a second yellow card. Herrera came on and it was clear that his job to try and keep Messi out of the game as much as possible.
We know from the Spainard’s time in England that he is well capable of doing so. He forced Messi to take up wider positions, to which he could only cross balls in and was easy for the PSG defenders to clear.
The Catalonians continued the second half just as they did the first, with the same tactical shape, players picking up the similar positions to break down the visitor’s defence with forward runs from Pedri and De Jong. It was Pochettino’s changes at the break that made the difference in the game.
The former Espanyol player and manager got the front 3 coming in closer to central positions to support Icardi and allow the fullbacks, Allesandro Florenzi and Kurzawa, to get further forward in wide positions.
Les Bleus’ took the lead on the 65th minute, it was right back Florenzi that got in behind the Barcelona defensive line due to an instinctive ball over the top from Leandro Paredes. The Barca back four attempted to step up, but Pique did not do that quick enough and kept the Italian full back onside. Florenzi played the ball across the face of the goal and found the feet of Mbappe to double his and Pochettino’s side lead at the Nou Camp.
LOOK at that ball over the top from Leandro Paredes ?
Kylian Mbappe’s second of the night caught Barcelona cold!
PSG have scored three at Camp Nou without Di Maria and Neymar… pic.twitter.com/CnhMQGrtDg
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 16, 2021
Five minuets after the visitors took the lead. Barca’s defensive woes continued as a free kick, crossed in by Paredes found its way to Kean, the Everton loanee, was unmarked in the box due to Lenglet and Pique marking the same player. Kean headed home well at the back post as PSG started to stamp their authority in the tie.
Once the third goal for the visitors went in, the hosts were determined to close the gap before the second leg in Paris, rather than accept the deficit they face when they travel to France. Koeman brought on Francisco Trincao, Miralem Pjanic and Rui Puig to shorten the deficit but it was PSG who benefited from this tactical change. Substitutes Danilo Periera and Julian Draxler combined to set up a three-on-three counterattack.
Draxler timed the pass to Mbappe perfectly for the French superstar to produce a quality finish to compelte his hat-trick and almost kill the tie at 4-1 to the visitors on the 85th minute. As seen in the past however you can never rule out a Barcelona side with Messi involved.
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— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 17, 2021
The tactical battle between the two former Southampton managers was a fascinating watch and was slightly different to what I was expecting from them. During their time in England, we were accustomed to their pressing styles, both of them tended to play high intensity philosophies, however there wasn’t a lot of that in the game maybe due to it being the first leg of a Champions League tie but it did seem like both sides were waiting for a precise time to press, which wasn’t often.
Credit to Pochettino who set his side up perfectly defensively and his second half tactical changes won the first round of this European battle.
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