PSG beat Barcelona 4-2 in a six-goal thriller, with five goals coming in the second half.
While it took 36 minutes for the opening goal of the game, as Desire Doue’s twinkle toes danced inside before snapping a shot back across into the near bottom corner, it was far from a cagey first half.
Both sides were looking to press aggressively and assert themselves in the game, which led to an open game with plenty of space at either end.
It was in the second half where the quality began to show, as Xavi Espart made it 1-1 for Barcelona in the 55th minute, levelling the game up.
Lucas Hernandez got on the end of a Doue corner to make it 2-1, before Lamine Yamal joined in the action, going down the other end just seven minutes later to equalise again.
But it was PSG who provided the final punches, with both Vitinha and Fabian Ruiz scoring from outside the box, making it 4-2 and another three points for Luis Enrique‘s side in their pursuit of Champions League number three on the bounce.
In this article, we’ll cover
PSG’s high press
As expected, PSG came out the gates looking to press in an aggressive man-oriented fashion.
Doue was tasked with jumping onto Gerard Martin from the right, with Achraf Hakimi then jumping onto Joao Cancelo and Marquinhos shuffling across to track Anthony Gordon on the left.
In midfield, Vitinha and Ruiz would jump to press the Barcelona pivot, while Joao Neves sat slightly deeper, following Dani Olmo initially, which became Fermin Lopez after 27 minutes as Olmo came off due to injury.
This left Barcelona’s front three up against a direct PSG opponent in a 3v3 scenario, with Lucas Hernandez following Yamal and Willian Pacho up against Raphinha, while as previously mentioned, Marquinhos shuffled over to Gordon.
In the opening stages of the game, PSG were forcing turnovers inside Barcelona’s half, allowing them to turn those turnovers into shots, but Joan Garcia was able to keep them out until the 36th minute, despite multiple chances from high turnovers.
But for Doue’s opener, it was another forced turnover from PSG, as Yamal tried to play a risky clipped ball into the centre, which Neves was able to cut out, heading it into the path of Doue, who then applied the quality that had been missing to make it 1-0.
Barcelona solutions?
Both teams were always going to press with intensity, which made the game feel like the deciding factor would be who could find the best solutions to beat that man to man pressure.
In the first half, Barcelona tried to find those advantages against PSG’s man to man press by dropping bodies deep in the build up, while the front three tried to pin their defenders deep.
By dragging the press high and looking to pin the defence as low as possible, Barcelona were creating a chasm of space between PSG’s units, which they then tried to access through two main stratgies.
Either a midfield player looking to carry the ball themselves, beating their marker in a 1v1 battle in the centre to arrive in the space behind them, or via a third man combination, as a Barcelona forward tried to arrive from high to low as an outlet pass.
However, due to the intensity of PSG’s press, Barcelona struggled to do this consistently with good execution, leading to turnovers.
In the second half, Barcelona started to exploit PSG’s man to man press in a different way, as was seen for their first goal.
Yamal made his move into a lower and wide area on the right, dragging Hernandez away with him. Simultaneously, Lopez dropped deep to drag Neves away from the gate between Hernandez and Pacho, opening a large gap for Espert to run into from deep.
By dynamically arriving in the space manipulated against the man to man press, Barcelona started to find some joy down their right side espeically.
The Desire Doue show
While Barcelona had their periods in the game, it was ultimately the quality of PSG that shone through, with two goals from outside the box in the final 10 minutes to win the game from Vitinha and Ruiz.
However, it was the 21-year-old winger that stole the show once again, easily looking like the best player on the pitch, which is some achievement considering potential Ballon D’or winner, Yamal, was also on the pitch.
Doue was a constant threat throughout, taking four shots, completing one take-on, making 10 progressive carries and providing four key passes.
But the true moment of game breaking quality came in the first half, as Doue opened the scoring with a move that is slowly becoming a trademark for the young Frenchman.
Doue received the ball in a more central zone at the top of the box, after PSG regained possession due to their effective high press.
Once he did, Doue’s ability to take multiple small touches with pressure from multiple angles was key, as his footwork allowed him to evade challenges and prepare his moment to strike.
Doue seems to have mastered the art of finishing through bodies, using a mixture of his footwork, deception and fast shot trigger effectivley.
With multiple bodies in front of him, Garcia between the sticks was unsighted, and it was at the exact moment he tried to move slightly to his right to see Doue, that the Frenchman snapped his shot back towards the near post, giving Garcia no time to react.
If Doue continues in this vein of form, he could be hot on Yamal’s heels, not only for the title of best winger in the world, but perhaps even best player.