Match date: 11 March 2015

The first leg of the tie ended 1-1, with Paris Saint Germain arguably the better side and Chelsea were fortunate to have Courtois in net as he kept his side in the tie with some good saves.

Chelsea had a longer period of time to prepare for this match having not played a league game at the weekend and Mourinho is often regarded as an expert in these situations, particularly when his side have the advantage. The Chelsea boss made one change to the side that drew away at the Parc des Princes, with Oscar coming in for Willian in a 4-2-3-1.

Laurent Blanc made two changes to his side with Thiago Motta coming in for Van der Wiel, meaning David Luiz moved alongside Thiago Silva and Marquinhos moved to right back. Blanc’s second change was further up the field, bringing Javier Pastore in for Lavezzi, who dropped to the bench. Blanc continued with a 4-3-3.

Slow Starts, Starting Tactics

There were a number of interesting tactics in the opening stages of the game, but one thing that was the result of these was a very timid, slow approach to the game from both sides. Possession was split for much of the game, even after Ibrahimovic’s sending off. When Chelsea had it in the opening half hour, Diego Costa would consistently look to get wide on the side of Marquinhos, with Hazard and Azpilicueta helping overload the side well. These made sense for a number of reasons. The first was that Ivanovic likes to play long diagonal balls and with Costa on the far flank, Chelsea were more likely to keep the ball through either Costa’s control or a knock down from the forward. This also allowed Hazard a bit more freedom and allowed him to drift inside and have space.

The second reason was that Pastore’s preferred movement was to come inside and rightfully so as the Argentine not only gave Paris Saint Germain numbers up in midfield when he did, but he was also incredibly creative, which the French side lacked without him on the ball. With Pastore drifting inside, however, it gave Azpilicueta a bit more space to move forward, which often lead to Chelsea having a 3v2 situation on the left before Pastore or Verratti worked back.

On the opposite side, Matuidi and Maxwell were very influential in the first leg on the tie. Matuidi is well known for making runs out of centre midfield into a wide left position and he provided the assist to Cavani in the first leg. With that in mind, Mourinho opted to start Ramires in a wide right role, hoping to limit the influence of both Matuidi and Maxwell. At times, Matuidi would burst forward, but it was much less often and much less effective than the first leg. These battles made for a cautious opening and with both sides defending in a mid block, it made passes between the lines almost impossible to find. Ibrahimovic was rarely involved and had to drop very deep to get involved in Paris Saint Germain’s play with the French side having more of the ball prior to the Swede’s sending off, but much of it between the centre backs, Thiago Motta, and Verratti.

Red Card, No Changes?

Right or wrong, Ibrahimovic was sent off in the 31st minute, however, it had very little effect on the match. This was extremely interesting as Mourinho is viewed as being one of the best in terms of controlling matches on his terms, especially when given a man advantage. It looked as those Chelsea were unsure whether to hold on to their away goal advantage or add another goal to give them some insurance.

For Blanc, the objective remained the same, Paris Saint Germain still had to score and so the French side stayed almost exactly as they were before the red card. The obvious change was Cavani moving into the centre in what was a lopsided 4-3-2/4-4-1. Pastore was generally higher up on the right side of PSG’s attack and still tried to tuck-in in an effort to make sure that Cavani did not become isolated and had a quick option when he was used as an outlet. Matuidi essentially continued with his usually role; on the left side of centre midfield in PSG’s 4-3-3, but with constant runs into the wide left area. It was a risk by Blanc as it meant that the French side could have been caught out, especially in the wide areas, but Chelsea failed to make use of their extra man.

The English side were slow in their build up play and Paris Saint Germain tried to press them when they were deep, which meant there were theoretical gaps in the midfield area. Too many times, however, Chelsea’s midfield trio of Matic, Fabregas, and Ramires were too deep rather than trying to find space behind Paris Saint Germain’s midfield, who were more dominate than the Chelsea side. Below is an excellent example of Chelsea’s lack of urgency illustrated by the deep positions of the aforementioned midfield trio.

To Paris Saint Germain’s credit, they did an excellent job of controlling the spaces that Chelsea could play into, particularly Thiago Motta, who you can see in the above screen capture kept his position very well in front of the back four and behind Verratti and Matuidi. All three of the PSG midfielders played incredibly well after the red card. They were able to help the French side have more possession of the ball than Chelsea, which meant limited chances for the English side. It was Verratti’s work out of a tight area that allowed Pastore to play Cavani in when the Uruguayan hit the post in the 57th minute. Thiago Motta controlled the ball, Verratti won the ball back well, and Matuidi provided energy and coverage on the left which were all highlighted because of Chelsea’s lack of urgency.

PSG’s Attacks

The away side’s best play came on the left side, especially after Willian’s introduction as the Brazilian looked to come inside, which left Maxwell a bit more free when getting forward. Cavani, as well, pulled off to the left, looking to exploited Ivanovic, who looked tired early on in the match, and Cahill, both of whom had a poor game in the previous leg. Maxwell was key to PSG’s attacks after the red card. He found his way up the pitch really well and was smart in his runs forward. He was unlucky with some of the balls that he played into the area, but he combined well with Cavani, Matuidi, and Pastore, who drifted centrally when the ball was in a wide left position.

Cavani should have scored his chance in the 57th minute, but either way, PSG looked the more likely of the two sides to score in the second half. They defended well and were patient going forward, despite having one less man in advanced positions. Chelsea looked just as slow when they were defending as they did when they had the ball. Ivanovic and Cahill in particular looked like they were reacting to every movement rather than reading the game, positioning themselves, and anticipating the movement of the ball.

Changes

After Cahill’s goal, which did not change the complexion of the game as PSG always had to get a goal, Blanc brought on Lavezzi and Rabiot for Verratti and Matuidi, with the latter two working incredibly hard during their time on the field. Lavezzi took up the area where Pastore typically was, with Pastore moving into the midfield three, while Rabiot played slightly deeper than Matuidi did, but also on the left of centre midfield. The changes weren’t too significant, although Lavezzi did have a good chance and delivered the corner that David Luiz scored.

Mourinho’s changes were similar. Matic was withdrawn just minutes before Luiz’s scored, with Kurt Zouma coming in and playing in Matic’s midfield role. Perhaps the most influential substitution was Mourinho bringing on Drogba for Ramires, which shifted Diego Costa into a wide right role. Soon after Drogba’s introduction, Chelsea began to look a bit longer, which forced Sirigu off his line twice prior to Hazard’s penalty to put Chelsea up 2-1. In Mourinho’s eyes, Drogba’s aerial prowess was more important on the defensive side of things having already seen his side conceded from one corner, but in the end, Thiago Silva scored from a corner as well.

Conclusion

Thiago Silva was to blame for Chelsea’s penalty and almost scored on another header before scoring on his next chance over Courtois. Overall, it was an excellent match and one that Paris Saint Germain deserved to win, not only because their play was better across both legs, but they played 90 minutes down a player, without their best attacking player, and all while sticking to their initial game plan. Credit to Blanc, who could have looked to change things, and look to play on the counter attack. Instead, he stuck with his initial vision and saw his side control the majority (slight) of the ball.

Mourinho will be livid that his side not only conceded two goals from set pieces, but that they essentially gave away three leads, the aggregate score and then the match score twice. It was not a classic Mourinho display. His side were slow, lethargic, and lacked any inspiration going forward. They seemed too content to sit on a shaky lead and failed to change their play despite the warning signs from PSG’s forward play.