PSG 2-3 BARCELONA: 5 THINGS WHAT HAPPENED!
Barcelona are back to the big game! The win over PSG on the road turned the Catalans into the favorite of the tie and the Champions League in general. Thus, in this video, Vamosito channel will tell you about 5 things that made it possible for Barca to get this crucial victory!
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Perfect organization
The first thing worth noting is Xavi's approach to organizing the game in defense and attack. The broadcasters, as usual, showed us that Barca would play their classic 4-3-3 formation, while in fact the Catalans did not use it at all.
This is no longer new to the blaugrana fans, but for neutral audiences, this structure may be quite surprising. The fact is that in the attack, Barcelona was switching to a 3-2-4-1 formation.
This is a typical Xavi tactic, but it was also perfect for the match against PSG. With the Raphinha-Gundogan-Lewandowski triangle in the central attacking zone, the Catalans overloaded the Parisian midfield. This was one of the opponent's weaknesses, as none of the midfield trio of Vitinha-Ruiz-Lee is a defensive-minded player. Without a doubt, they are very strong in creating, but often failed defensively.
When PSG attacked, Barca defended in a classic 4-4-2. This allowed them to remain compact and also provided a backup against Mbappe and Dembele on the flanks, with Raphinha and Yamal constantly helping Kounde and Cancelo.
So as we can see, Barcelona did not use a 4-3-3 at all, and Xavi's system continues to work. Like this video if you appreciate Xavi's flexibility and would like him to stay at Barcelona!
Shining Raphinha
Of course, when we talk about Barcelona's victory, we must first mention Raphinha's Man of the Match performance. The Brazilian played one of his best games in a Barca shirt.
He scored the Catalans' first two goals, and in both episodes, he did a superb job. In the episode with the first goal, he chased the team's attack, found free space in the opponent's penalty area, and once he got the ball, he calmly sent it into the net.
The second goal was even better. The Brazilian reacted to a pass from midfield and scored a beautiful one-touch goal. It should be noted that in this episode Raphinha broke into the opponent's penalty area through the center - this is where Xavi's tactical idea with Raphinha as one of the two tenths worked once again.
By the way, these two goals were the Brazilian's first career Champions League goals. Congratulations!
However, Raphinha was named Man of the Match not only for his goals. In general, his performance was incredible. A huge workload, great offensive actions, opening up between the lines and constantly creating problems for the opponent's defense.
In addition to 2 goals, number 11 had 6 shots in total, 3 key passes, 2 dribbles completed and 2 duels won. Wow!
Raphinha is exciting, he’s really fantastic… if you see how he’s pressing, always trying the best, - praised his player Xavi after the game.
As you can see, the coach emphasizes not goals but the Brazilian's work-rate.
Keeping Mbappe quiet
I'm ready and I am prepared as usual. I am not going to hide, - said Kylian Mbappe before the match.
Well, this aged well. Barcelona completely took Kylian out of the game, and this factor in the victory cannot be underestimated. First of all, the team's right-back and right center-back - Kounde and Araujo - who worked hardest against Mbappe and backed each other up perfectly, should be praised for this.
We can compliment each of them, but let's single out Jules Kounde, who played against Kylian directly for the entire 90 minutes:
5 clearances
3 recoveries
7/9 ground duels won and
2/3 aerial duels won
Bravo, Jules!
However, it was not only the defensive line that worked to restrain Kylian, the whole team did. The Frenchman sometimes changed his position on the pitch, but failed to find a weak spot either in the center or on the right side of the attack.
The young Cubarsi acted perfectly against Mbappe occasionally. This blocked shot alone, which, although it was done by Kylian from offside position, showed Pau's quality.
Pau Cubarsí is an incredible player. He’s been world class... guys, it’s not normal for a 17 years old to perform like that! I ran out of words to praise him. He competes like an older player. It’s just insane, - Xavi was extremely pleased after the game.
The same goes for Lamine Yamal, who rather failed in terms of his offensive performance, but worked hard in defense: he entered 10 duels, winning 6 of them.
Kylian's stats are the best indication of how well Barcelona coped with him:
0 goals
0 assists
0 shots on target
13 times possession lost
2/10 duels won and only
1/4 dribbles completed
Mbappe has a lot to think about before the second leg and the upcoming transfer to Real in general.
2 июн 2024
