Real Madrid vs PSG Late Analysis

Source

The dominating win of PSG by pressing and speed motivated by its home crowd in the first leg of Paris, the comeback of Real by pressing and speed motivated by its home crowd in the return leg of Madrid. Two show runners Mbappe and Benzema. With these common facts in this clash, the difference is Courtois and Donnarumma. In one's heroism, Real didn't concede more than one in the first leg, and in the second one's mistake, momentum shifted and PSG never gained back control. Real didn't press hard in the first leg, but prioritized buildup from Back. Going for a safer approach of playing long balls to Benzema against PSG's hard press. Benzema was not fit that day, couldn't give any momentum to Real by winning the long ball. PSG therefore dominated the whole match with speed. Despite creating many chances, Just Mbappe's last minute goal won the match.

Real applied high pressing from the beginning, something missing from the first leg. And this time PSG opted to build from the back. And that's about it. They lost it. Di Maria played forward in the first leg, in the second leg it was Neymar. Maria was pressing actively. In that game only Messi didn't press much. But in this leg, nobody of the front three pressed Real head on. All PSG did was to create a zonal block in the midfield. Because their forwards did not press high, Real had no problem in progessing the ball from deep. And as Kroos and Modric dropped deep to distribute, they pushed their fullbacks high up. This was possible because PSG did not press in the wide areas. Meaning Real Madrid had no problem in ball progression. However, Real had to pay the price in the approach of raising Carvajal more up. The space behind Carvajal was targeted by PSG and the only goal they scored was from that space as Mbappe exploited his opposite number.

PSG's offensive transition in this match was different than in the first leg, except for the attack with Mbappe on the counter in the space behind Carvajal, PSG only created good momentum when they kept the ball on their feet and play a short pass approach. When Messi-Neymar-Veratti-Paredes had the ball for a long time, it was seen that PSG could create a good chance after a while. Pochettino's tactics had not changed since he took the lead in the first half. PSG Still was trying to play the buildup from back method where the quarter final could be confirmed only after defending 2 goals for 45 minutes. It wasn't a safe option at all for PSG, who were faced by a Madrid who pressed like today is your last in front a jam packed Bernabeu. Donnarumma's mistake is the result of this buildup from back method while standing near the goal post under the pressure of Benzema. Even after this goal, PSG was ahead in the aggregate, but the rest of the time, only one team played on the field. Real's comeback was completed with a 76 to 78 minute back to back goals. Even with the lead, Real kept pushing. PSG is not allowed to get into gear even once. During this time, the panicked PSG tried to attack through Mbappe by playing a long ball, but he could not win the physical duel against Madrid defenders. And Messi, Neymar, who played an important role in play,making in the first half, couldn't get the ball in this long ball system. And after Paredes got subbed, the shortpass building didn't work either. In the end with Maria and Draxler on the pitch, PSG were clueless.

This star-studded team is still confused as to what style they should follow, what type of role players should play with priority. Although PSG were clueless, Real Madrid knew how to play them. The team that has experience in heavyweight matches like champions league knockouts have showed their class. The 13 time UCL winners are not at their best, but they know when to do it how to do it. While their opponents do not know exactly who they are - the fate of the match is decided then and there.