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BAYERN MUNICH'S STATEMENT WIN OVER EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS PSG: MATCH BREAKDOWN!
- Matt Smith
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Bayern Munich secured a 2-1 victory away at Paris Saint-Germain, with Vincent Kompany’s side producing a masterclass performance to secure the three points. It was a lesson from the Bundesliga side in how to setup defensively against Luis Enrique’s men, setting the blueprint on how to nullify their tricky midfield and rapid transitions.
Luis Diaz’s red card changed the game in PSG’s favour in terms of their dominance, but Bayern worked tirelessly off the ball to prevent them coming back into the game. I’ll be providing some analysis, predominantly on how Bayern setup without the ball to produce a phenomenal opening 45 minutes.
Firstly, PSG setup in a 4-4-2 out of possession, with Bradley Barcola coming inside alongside Ousmane Dembele, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia dropping in to the midfield four. With Harry Kane’s movement, Bayern were able to get some joy by allowing him, and others, the freedom to get in between the lines, which we’ll touch on later.
Out of possession, Bayern’s shape was incredibly unique, with some major pressing rotations which saw defenders coming into midfield (Tah above), forwards dropping into full-back positions (Diaz), and midfielders stepping on to the forward line (Kimmich).
This was a theme throughout the game, with Bayern using a man-to-man press all over the pitch, even if that meant players stepping out of their usual positions. They would heavily focus on ensuring the midfield area was suffocated, as that’s where PSG get plenty of joy with their technical players in that area.
As well as Tah, Dayot Upamecano would also jump into the midfield position, knowing he had cover behind him. PSG don’t play with a natural number 10, with all three of their midfielders in deeper positions, so there was little risk of a PSG player finding space between the lines. This would create huge out of possession overloads in central areas for Bayern, making it difficult for PSG to find space and progress.
The deeper PSG were, the more intense Bayern pressed, with players pushing incredibly high to prevent them from playing out, forcing them long. Pavlovic and Kimmich would continue going man-for-man to prevent PSG’s midfielders getting on the ball, and again, a centre-back would jump to prevent a pass into a forward player.
Dembele would often look to drop in to those central areas between the lines, but a centre-back would always follow.
When PSG had the ball in the middle third, Bayern would suffocate the central areas. Again, Upamecano jumps into the midfield zone, with one of their wingers, this time Diaz, still keeping that four-at-the-back defensive shape, with a full-back tucking in. Again, this is preventing PSG from progressing centrally, while Upamecano can also block off the passing lane into Dembele.
Bayern’s out of possession shape was their main method of chance creation. There was little focus on their build up play, trying to break PSG down, as they simply allowed them to have the ball and would try and win it back high up the pitch.
Upamecano and Tah, again, would come into midfield to try and win the ball back and condense the space centrally, meaning Bayern had plenty of bodies forward when they win the ball back.
Once they win it back, the rotations in attack create confusion, with Gnabry dragging a defender out of shape, Kane not staying centrally, creating a gap in the PSG defence for Olise to run onto. Olise then collects the ball, and his shot is followed up by Diaz who scores.
Their second goal also came from a high-pressing situation. Marquinhos had minimal options to play into due to Bayern suffocating the midfield area, and Diaz is able to pinch the ball to secure Bayern’s second goal. Again, their chance creation coming through their pressing.
Due to PSG’s failure to progress the ball centrally, the only way they could look to produce an attack was exploiting Bayern’s high line. As mentioned, Tah (or Upamecano) would step out of the defence, giving PSG a chance to play in behind.
Unfortunately for PSG though, Bayern’s rotations out of possession meant even though the centre-backs would step up, the likes of Diaz would be providing cover, as well as Pavlovic, to keep a numerical advantage defensively, meaning it was difficult for PSG to create any opportunities in the first half.
In terms of Bayern’s build-up, they would also use rotations in possession to confuse PSG and create space. Kane would often drop into the midfield zone to receive the ball, making it difficult for defenders to mark him. Similarly to Bayern, PSG’s centre-backs would also step out to mark Gnabry and/or Kane, but Bayern would push Laimer into attacking positions to keep plenty of numbers in attack. Laimer’s central movement would also create space for Olise out wide, and PSG couldn’t deal with it.
Bayern would look to exploit PSG’s centre-backs following the similar pattern of jumping. Marquinhos and Pacho stepping out create central space, with Laimer occupying Mendes and Olise and Diaz staying high and wide. This stretched the PSG defence, and Gnabry was able to use his pace to run in behind.
Marquinhos doesn’t have the recovery pace that Bayern’s defenders do, so it was an easy method for Bayern to exploit in possession.
Bayern’s in possession setup predominantly centred around Kane. When Bayern had the ball in the middle third, their midfielders would often vacate the area, creating space for Kane. PSG would be trying to mark and block passing lanes into Pavlovic and Kimmich, meaning Kane could find areas in the middle.
PSG would then press Kane, but Stanisic can then step into midfield, with Kane occupying the PSG midfielders, and he has acres of space to run into, receiving the ball in between the lines. Despite Kane dropping in, Bayern don’t sacrifice numbers in attack, with Gnabry, Diaz, Kimmich, and Olise all along the PSG defensive line.
Just before the break, Diaz was sent off for a nasty tackle on Achraf Hakimi. This changed the game, and Bayern were forced to give PSG even more of the ball.
Bischof was introduced for Bayern, and he would play a hybrid role, sometimes dropping in to a back five, and sometimes pushing a little higher to come into midfield, with Bayern then playing a back four, as you’ll see below. Further up the pitch, Bayern would always create some variation of a diamond in the middle, with one midfielder at the base, blocking lanes into a player trying to get between the lines, and another at the tip pressing the ball.
With Bischof sometimes slightly higher, Bayern would still create that diamond centrally, making it difficult for PSG to progress the ball through the middle, despite their numerical advantage.
In possession, Bayern still took risks going forward. They didn’t look to play out, but when they had the ball in their own third, they’d still leave three players on the last line, to try and hit PSG in transition. Camping in their own box was only going to invite more pressure, so they’d look to alleviate that by trying to hit PSG in behind directly.
Luis Enrique made a smart decision to introduce Joao Neves. PSG’s midfield three in the first half and early second half were too flat, with minimal third-man runs from deep causing Bayern problems. Neves loves to get forward into the box, and he caught Bayern out by doing exactly that, producing a third-man run to volley home.
As expected, as the game went on and with PSG finding a goal against 10-men, Bayern had their backs against the wall at the end. Kim was introduced to the defence for some aerial dominance and more compactness at the back, but Bayern would still be looking to press in central areas. Luckily for them, PSG didn’t look to get a player playing between the lines, meaning they were able to press without too much risk.
Bayern managed to hold on for three points, and it’s a real shame we didn’t get to see them playing with 10 men for the whole game. It was a serious defensive and out of possession masterclass from Bayern. Usually that might be signs of an incredibly defensive side, but Bayern were far from that. Their press was chaotic but incredibly organised, they still played a high line and didn’t camp in their own box, and their rotations in and out of possession were a joy to watch.
Kompany is growing to become one of the best coaches in Europe, and his adaptation to playing top sides like PSG in the Champions League is going to prove that this season.
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