PSG - The 'Real' Deal
Paris Saint-Germain aren't just beating the world's best teams, they are thumping them, as the European Champions cruise to the FIFA Club World Cup final.
The Champions League final against Internazionale felt like ‘a moment’ in football where either the changing of the guard ‘could’ potentially be for real… Or a team had peaked to its powers of an era that had long failed to deliver promise.
Paris Saint-Germain won the European Cup final by a record margin, which bettered the great Real Madrid side of 1960 when they themselves thumped Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in a golden era of dominance. That 5-0 win over the Italian 2023/24 champions was either going to be the start of something much bigger, or the peak of Luis Enrique’s achievements… It looks like however, it’s only the beginning.
PSG smashed Atletico Madrid 4-0 in their opening FIFA Club World Cup group game, but got caught out against a defensively resilient Botafogo, despite having 75% of possession and 16 shots to 4, they weren’t at full strength for that game, and deserved to slip up against a Brazilian team that on the day wanted it more, but the Parisians have since bounced back to a 2-0 cruise control victory against Seattle Sounders, a 4-0 first half destruction against Inter Miami, a solid 2-0 win against a very good Bayern Munich, and now, a semi final score line that makes headlines, 4-0 against the world’s most successful ever football team (Al Ahly fans may disagree, but Real Madrid have won more major world and continental honours).
Luis Enrique’s side started brilliantly against Real Madrid, forcing Thibaut Courtois into two early saves as they pressed for an opener, but it was self-inflicted pain, that would be the undoing of Xabi Alonso’s team, Raul Asencio, in for the suspended Dean Huijsen at centre half, caught napping on the ball, giving up possession inside his own box to Ousmane Dembele who gave Fabian Ruiz the chance to tap home.
With nine minutes gone, things got even worse for Real Madrid, Anthony Rudiger, facing his own goal, kicked fresh air when in possession, Dembele nipped in, and ran through, to make it two.
You don’t need to give teams like PSG chances like that, but perhaps that’s what they do? The pressing game that Enrique has installed, puts doubt in the mind of the opposition, they have to think quickly, and when pressured, that leads to mistakes, these, however, were two erratic errors from players who are much better than that!
Whilst the pressing of the PSG front three (Kvaratskhelia, Doue & Dembele) is what really led to these early goalscoring chances, the long dominance of their ‘elite’ midfield three, Vitinha, Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz, is what really dictates how games are played.
This three often control proceedings and get on the ball wherever they can, they dominated possession against Real Madrid, who without the legs of Valverde (who was playing right back) struggled to compete with their own three central figures, Bellingham, Arda and Tchouameni.
You can see the 3v3 comparisons, in orange, PSG’s midfield dominated in all areas with most touches centrally across the middle of the park, whilst in blue, the Real Madrid midfield trio simply didn’t do enough.
The goal of the game was perhaps the third, when a slick passing move ended with Fabian Ruiz netting his second on 24, the remainder of the game a procession, PSG might have had more, they eventually got four, late on, when Gonzalo Ramos was given too much time inside the box.
Whilst Real Madrid weren’t at full strength, their midfield trio was dysfunctional against a proven organised outfit of world class stature, on the left, Vitinha, Joao Neves and Ruiz, in orange, largely played centrally, whilst on the right, Guler, Bellingham, Tchouameni, looked to have no real cohesion, in fact, a lot of that work done on the right hand side where all three would occupy similar space in possession.
They certainly missed Valverde from the centre, who in fact did well at right back to keep Kvaratskhelia relatively quiet, but perhaps the damage was done early on, by making mistakes, it gave PSG the confidence, and once given the edge, they weren’t ever in a position to let it slip.
Best Team In The World?
Jamie Carragher, of all people, said “Watching PSG is like watching Pep’s Barca! I can’t give them a higher compliment” well a higher compliment would perhaps be, “watching PSG is like watching Luis Enrique’s Barcelona” the treble winning side of 2014/15 of course, the team that beat Juventus in the final of the Champions League, with Neymar, Suarez, Messi, well this Paris St Germain team is not quite on those levels yet? But I certainly think it isn’t far off.
Retaining the Champions League would certainly put them in a category of super greats, but first, winning the FIFA Club World Cup this weekend against Chelsea, wouldn’t be a bad addition to their growing trophy cabinet.
I’ll be back with a round up of that game, and a round up of all things good and bad in the FIFA Club World Cup, next week.
theHEADscout.
I’m a sports DATA Analyst and PFSA associate scout with level two qualifications in talent identification and level one certificates in technical scouting & opposition analysis.