Here’s our latest analysis in images, with footage of Paris Saint-Germain’s 0-3 victory over RB Salzburg on Matchday 6 of the Champions League 2024-2025 league phase. This is the construction of the goal by Désiré Doué (19-year-old midfielder/attacker) and therefore PSG’s 3rd, which coach Luis Enrique described as a “masterpiece”.
The situation when Lucas Hernandez has the ball on the left at the restart.
For the moment, PSG don’t seem to be close to scoring, and they’ll need another twenty seconds or so. To kick-start this, the Parisians are well spread out so that Lucas Hernandez has several options.
He could play directly to Bradley Barcola, who has enough of a gap to João Neves to be found. In the end, he’ll go for the simpler option and play on the latter.
But he did have another long solution, with Désiré Doué freeing himself up in midfield, and another short one, with Vitinha more available.
The forward movement of Warren Zaïre-Emery was also noticeable, while the short restart was assured. If he wasn’t followed, it was an extra option forwards. As his opponent came with him, he freed up space for Marquinhos to turn. And that’s what happened. Hence the importance of avoiding finishing too low to “help” the recovery.
The situation when the ball arrives at Marquinhos.
Marquinhos has time to control the ball, and while he’s doing so, there’s a very important movement: Zaïre-Emery comes to the right in order to be an option, and does so by moving forward, since there’s space. A call to his team-mate could have locked him in, and the team with him.
Everyone takes advantage of Hakimi’s position on the touchline, which stretches the opposing block. It’s worth noting that he’s usually a “real” right-back until such time as Paris has broken away from the opposition’s pressing.
Logically enough, Vitinha slides into the middle to ensure a short restart if needed and help block an action if the ball is lost. But Marquinhos did well with his pass for Zaïre-Emery.
The situation when Zaire-Emery controls from the right.
Did Lee Kang-In think the pass was for him? Did he want to combine short? Did he doubt that his team-mate was going to get the ball? In any case, they’re two very close players and you have to adapt.
The Korean could have returned to the side straight away, especially as there were already a lot of people in the middle. Zaire-Emery could have tried to turn around and find a player in the middle. But that’s a risk, and the Parisians seemed intent on avoiding it via the heart of the game in this match.
Lee and Zaïre-Emery are perhaps best aware that Hakimi, who is extremely quick, is going to take up the flank. So the former made room for him by taking a player with him and the latter waited for him to come up before serving him. We don’t know if this was the exact plan, but it’s at least a good adaptation to the situation.
In passing, it’s worth pointing out that Vitinha and Neves don’t come close to Zaire-Emery, and that they stay higher up the pitch than the Salzburg line that was passed.
The situation when Lee Kang-In receives the ball in the box.
Hakimi went over the top, Lee attacked the box in the classic manner. What’s interesting here is that, with Hakimi’s call to the box, the other players stayed in other positions to occupy the whole area and put the defense in a situation that was almost impossible to resolve.
Désiré Doué could have dived towards the near post, attracted by the goal and perhaps to make room for Neves. But Hakimi was already going for it and this could have led to 1 defender for 2 Parisians.
By staying further back, Doué made room for Hakimi…who finally chose to wait and served his team-mate when the latter was completely alone at the penalty spot. Barcola had the wisdom to stay on the left to stretch the defense as long as possible and be an option at the end if necessary.
