PSG 1 – 2 Real Madrid: Tactical review

Real Madrid progressed into the quarterfinals of the Champions League with a 2-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of the round of 16. Here is our tactical review for match.

Personnel

With both Luka Modric and Toni Kroos only recently returning from injury, Zidane opted for Kovacic and Casemiro in midfield.

In contrast to the first leg, Zidane opted for a 4-4-2 with Asensio and Lucas Vazquez playing as wingers. There are a number of reasons that Zidane opted for this formation. Real Madrid has played a very similar system previously, most successfully against Sevilla in early December with the team shredding a defensively poor away team 5-0.

Zidane has also been experimenting with double pivots in recent games and has seemed to take a fondness for them.

Perhaps the most interesting exclusion from the squad was Gareth Bale.

The Welshman has been on top form since his return from injury and after the BBC’s performance against Getafe over the weekend, more than a few fans were surprised by the choice of both Asensio and Vazquez over Bale. Aside from that, the team remained very much the same with Marcelo returning from injury and Carvajal returning from suspension.

Approach

From the early exchange, Real Madrid sat back and tried to make the game scrappy and physical. Casemiro, Sergio Ramos, and Rafa Varane were all involved in the early exchanges. It was quite unusual to see from Los Blancos, but for much of this game, Real Madrid looked defensively solid.

Although they weren’t able to keep a clean sheet, the back line should be pleased with their performance today. In possession, Real Madrid looked to counter on PSG with particular focus in the wide areas as PSG full backs were pushing forward.

Often, Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez would come in narrow rather than hug the touchline and were allowed to roam from their positions in attack. Often the width was provided by Marcelo and Carvajal or Karim Benzema, who likes to drift wide. Ronaldo was also allowed to roam, sometimes taking positions out wide and attacking his marker or drifting centrally.

Some real credit should be given to the work rate of Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio, with both players tracking back to help with defensive work as well as contributing offensively.

Unai Emery disaster class

Although Real Madrid was set up well, victory might not have been possible if it wasn’t for the poor management of opposition coach, Unai Emery. I have often seen people criticize Zidane for his poor tactical knowledge, giving him little credit to him for his ability to motivate players.

PSG showed what a side of poor management looked like.

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The home side should have been fired up to take the game to Real Madrid, but showed a lack of intensity I have not recalled seeing from any club going into a second leg with a deficit. They were sluggish and disinterested for much of the first half and although the players should be criticized for their lack of the professionalism, Emery must also take some the blame for this too.

It should not be hard to motivate a dressing room of world class players to come out and play against the champions of Europe and yet Emery has found a way to do just that. Fans of the Partisan club will be rightfully pleased to see the back of him when he leaves in the summer and Madrid fans should be grateful that they have one of the best motivators in world football right now

The goals

Real Madrid’s first goal started with a Dani Alves’ give away to Marco Asensio. The young Spaniard brought the ball forward and waited to lure in the Brazilian fullback and create space for Lucas Vazquez.

He eventually released the ball into Lucas Vazquez who played in a wonderful cross for Ronaldo to header home. Madrid had a similar chance mintutes earlier with Ronaldo’s header going wide, but he made no mistake this time.

The PSG goal came from a corner and is owed very much to Real Madrid falling asleep at the corner and the ball eventually ending up in the back of the net after two or three deflections.

Real Madrid’s second goal came about from a good counter from Madrid, Vazquez tried to square the ball to Bale but a PSG defender got in the way, only deflecting the ball out to Casemiro who pinged his shot off a defender and into the net.

Next: Real Madrid 2(5)-1(2) Paris Saint-Germain: Champions League recap

Conclusions

Zidane got his tactical setup down and was assisted by the workrate of Lucas Vazquez and Asensio, the solid defensive performance of the backline and the poor man management skills of Unai Emery. Madrid march on to their eighth consecutive quarter final with much sterner challenges lying ahead.

Although this was a good win, Madridistas should realize that this PSG team was extremely poor and rarely looked like challenging the holders in Paris on Tuesday. Saying that, no team will want to be drawn against Los Blancos as they continue their trend of showing up on the big occasions. Hasta el final!

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