Paris Saint-Germain was already dangerously flirting with the void. He now has one foot in it after his defeat, Tuesday, November 26, on the pitch of Bayern Munich (0-1) in the Champions League. Beaten by a single small goal from Bavarian defender Kim Min-jae (38th), which does not say everything about the extent of their poor performance, the Parisians are standing still in the standings and have only four points after five matches in the most important European competition.
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PSG has not won in C1 since September 18, an eternity, and a success against Girona which had been acquired with pain (1-0). Luis Enrique's team continues to advance in Ligue 1, but does not seem cut out for the Champions League, even though it was one of the semi-finalists last year. The intractable collective that the Spanish technician dreams of, which seemed to have progressed in recent weeks, was shattered in Munich. Worse, his PSG seems to have disavowed itself during this meeting.
Paris' last two results in the competition, against PSV Eindhoven (1-1) and Atlético de Madrid (1-2), were “unfair” in the eyes of Luis Enrique. PSG had dominated but had not realized their chances, and the spotlight had focused on the ineffectiveness of the Parisian attackers. Tuesday, after the defeat against Bayern Munich, they will inevitably turn to the Spanish coach, whose choices were as strong as they were counterproductive.
“Bayern deserved the victory”this time recognized Luis Enrique, before assuming “with tranquility” his decisions for this meeting. The first of these consisted of not fielding any center forward, a surprising choice for a team which absolutely had to win against Bayern. Kim Min-jae and Dayot Upamecano, the two central defenders of the Bavarian club, certainly experienced one of the quietest evenings of their career, because no Parisian player was in charge of their area.
“We were very inferior”
In this new and unexpected tactical scheme, it was Nuno Mendes, a left-back whose offensive expression was often restricted, who sometimes occupied the forefront of the attack. On the eve of the match, Luis Enrique warned that the two teams were similar, that they appreciated having possession. “The problem is that there is only one ball, someone will have to suffer, them or us”warned the Asturian. With only 42.6% possession of the ball, PSG suffered a lot, especially in the first period, where “we were very inferior”regretted Luis Enrique.
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