Match date: 10 April 2013
Carlo Ancelotti and Paris Saint Germain showed good intent in the first leg of their quarterfinal tie with Barcelona, attacking them well, having four great attackers in Ibrahimovic, Lavezzi, Lucas Moura, and Pastore. Ancelotti made another statement of intent in deciding to continue with the same attacking four, but chose to change the midfield behind them, starting Verratti and Thiago Motta, over David Beckham and the suspended Matuidi.
Barcelona had to start with Messi, who was only fit enough to make the bench, and had to chose Adriano as a makeshift centre back due to the injury to Mascherano, despite having the likes of Alex Song and Sergio Busquets capable in that area of the pitch.
Paris Saint Germain’s Shape
For many of their matches in Ligue 1, PSG line up in something of a 4-2-2-2, with Ibrahimovic and Lavezzi notably higher up the pitch than both Pastore and Lucas Moura, who float between the lines well. In the first leg of the Barcelona tie, this turned more into a lopsided 4-3-3, because Javier Pastore would drop much deeper than Lucas Moura and would tuck inside to try to help Beckham and Matuidi with Barcelona’s midfield three.
In this second leg, PSG looked more like a 4-4-1-1, with Lucas Moura dropping deeper and Javier Pastore continuing his first leg trend of dropping deep and tucking in. Lavezzi would drop deeper than Ibrahimovic and when Sergio Busquets was deep enough, would add pressure onto him, much more so than in the first leg of the tie. Lavezzi’s pressing was timely and relatively effective as he gave Busquets less time on the ball, and just a few minutes into the match, Lavezzi created a scoring chance after getting the ball off Busquets.
With Pastore dropping deep on defense, Lavezzi would also drift into the space on the left side of PSG’s attack, his average position being significantly further on the left side of their attack than in the home leg.
PSG Attacks on the Right and Through Ibrahimovic
Despite Javier Pastore scoring PSG’s lone goal, for most of the game he didn’t get on the ball, and PSG’s most frequent attacks came on the right side from Lucas Moura driving at the Barcelona back line and Jallet finding space on the right touch line, who was the higher of PSG’s fullbacks throughout the match.
Ibrahimovic didn’t have the best game in the first leg of the tie, but his ability to find the killer ball and aerial abilities were PSG’s most threatening form of attack on the night. With Adriano as Barcelona’s second centre back (though Mascherano is no better in the air), Ibrahimovic was very threatening in the air. Overall, Barcelona won just 6 of their 26; Ibrahimovic won all 7 of his attempts, 6 of them being in Barcelona’s half, which allowed him to get other players involved. It wasn’t just getting other players involved though, he ended up creating to the most chances out of anyone on the pitch with 6, including his assist to Pastore.
Messi Comes On
Prior to Messi coming on, Barcelona lacked, not only their penetrative abilities, but their quick combinations around the box to open up the PSG back four. They had changed their shape a bit at half time, with David Villa playing more centrally rather than out wide and Fabregas playing behind him, which made sense because with Pastore tucking in to help Verratti and Motta, it opened up the whole right side for Alves to work, which he has always done well, but did fantastically in the first leg up against Maxwell.
Despite their lack of penetration, Barcelona still had plenty of the ball. Xavi completed all 96 of his passes, with about half of them forward passes, but failed to create a chance (still amazing that he completed 100% of his 96 passes).
After PSG scored their goal, Barcelona waited 12 minutes before bringing on Messi, maybe thinking he could only play around 30 minutes, but his introduction surely changed things for Barcelona. They looked much more threatening and he has such ability to beat players in the tightest of areas. Their goal came after good work from Messi. He received the ball in the centre of the field, about 35 yards out, before beating both Verratti and Motta and finding Villa in PSG’s box, who then set Pedro up to equalize for Barcelona.
Ancelotti’s Response
Ancelotti made all three of this changes after Barcelona’s goal, bringing on Kevin Gameiro for Lavezzi, David Beckham for Verratti, and Gregory van der Wiel for Jallet and they looked to get the ball into Barcelona’s box as much as they could when they had the ball. Gameiro obviously added more pace and is much more direct than Lavezzi and in the same vein as Mats Hummels introduction for Dortmund the day before, David Beckham was introduced to deliver accurate long balls.
At the same time that Barcelona had introduced Messi into the game, they were also forced to introduce Marc Bartra for the injured Adriano. In the closing stages, it certainly helped Barcelona as he won 3 of their 6 total aerial duals.
Conclusion
PSG and Ancelotti showed their attacking intent through both legs of the tie. They exposed Barcelona’s weaknesses on the counter attack and set pieces and Ancelotti showed his belief that his attacking quartet of Ibrahimovic, Lavezzi, Lucas Moura, and Pastore are far superior than Barcelona’s defensive abilities.
Messi showed again just how important he is to Barcelona’s game. They were able to keep the ball just as well as they do in every game, but they lacked that certain quality that Messi brings to them team until his introduction.