The instructions given to Matvei Safonov, the 27-year-old Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper, were clear during the Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich (1-1, 5-6 on aggregate): clear the ball into touch every six meters, particularly on the right side. This instruction prompted a reaction from Christophe Dugarry, the 1998 World Cup winner and now a pundit on RMC radio.
Dugarry: “That’s great, he should take up rugby then.”
“I don’t believe it for a second. He aims for one side, then he’s clumsy… So, the great Luis Enrique’s tactic would be to send the ball into touch? That’s great, he should take up rugby then! I understand putting pressure on the wings to trouble the opposition, but what’s the point of doing that?”
If it’s so difficult for a pundit to understand the tactics a coach implemented in the Champions League semi-final that secured qualification for the final, it’s simply nonsense. To deal with Olise and the Bavarian attack, Luis Enrique had to find strategies, and this was one of them. It paid off and contributed significantly to the draw and the qualification.
At this stage, we can only applaud the performance, whether it came from the bench or the pitch. These matches are decided by details, and those clearances into touch were one of them, ultimately making the difference against the Bavarian strategy. It’s a shame that Dugarry, a self-proclaimed “expert” on one of the “major French media outlets,” can’t seem to grasp this.
