Champs PSG breach Barca high line
French giants notch up a hat-trick of wins at Barcelona through assists from full backs Mendes and Hakimi
Kolkata: Five minutes in, Achraf Hakimi bounded into Barcelona territory but the move didn’t go anywhere. As his team switched to a higher gear in the second half, the Paris St-Germain (PSG) right back began testing Barcelona’s high defensive line more often. It fit that Hakimi would assist Goncalo Ramos for the 90th minute goal that fetched the 2-1 win.
PSG are the only team to have beaten Barcelona thrice in succession on the road in the Champions League but Wednesday’s tie could have gone the other way had Dani Olmo chosen to go right in the 63rd minute. He didn’t and his shot was cleared by Hakimi. Or, instead of going solo and being denied by a sliding Illia Zabarnyi, Ferran Torres had noticed that Marcus Rashford was unmarked.
Soon after, Torres put the home team ahead in the 19th minute when Rashford opened his shoulder for his third assist in three games. This was the 45th straight game since last December in which Barcelona have scored, as per Opta. That too with Robert Lewandowski on the bench and Raphinha injured.
Typical of a contest between teams opting for a high-risk-high-reward approach, there were errors. Vitinha’s stray pass that was intercepted by Lamine Yamal for Barcelona’s goal being one. Nuno Mendes being booked for a foul on Yamal and being lucky to not be cautioned again for another on the Barcelona starlet being another.
After a vibrant and equal first half, where Senny Mayulu equalised in the 38th minute, Barcelona failed to keep up the intensity. Indication of that came in the 52nd minute when Nuno Mendes easily played a raking pass for Mayulu, one of the five teenagers given starts. In the 53rd, Hakimi galloped into the Barcelona penalty box and cut in. Mendes and Hakimi overlapped after each other in the 75th. Hakimi had nine touches in the opposition penalty box.
The high line has been a way of playing at Barcelona. Hansi Flick has made it higher, moving Barcelona a further five metres away from where the defence stood in 2022-23, The Athletic has shown.
Barcelona now usually stand 35m away from their goal. They do it well, so well that Kylian Mbappe was caught off-side eight times last year. The high line helps compress the pitch, gets Barcelona to counter-press faster and makes it difficult for teams that like to build with short passes.
It works against most teams because they do not have much of the ball. Known for their dynamic play, the reigning champions of Europe had 53% possession, more chances created (13-8), more shots on target (7-3) and forced more saves (5-0).
So, against a team with technical players even when they miss three first-choice forwards and Marquinhos in defence, Barcelona’s high line plan boomeranged. “We played with many players from the youth academy who are 17 or 18 years old. It’s wonderful to have a team like this,” said PSG head coach Luis Enrique. Lee Kang-in is not among them but is known to be the best dribbler in the squad. Surrounded by Barcelona players, the Korean managed a shot that hit the upright.
PSG have buccaneering full backs in Mendes and Hakimi who have passing range, power and positional sense. They have midfielders who drop in allowing the full backs to push up with freedom. They are the best in their position, Enrique said of Mendes and Hakimi.
Exploiting space left by Barcelona, Mendes went on the outside of Jules Kounde, exchanged passes, drove infield and found Mayulu for the equaliser. Like in the Nations League final, Mendes kept Yamal quiet, albeit after two spells of magic: a superb pirouette past Vitinha and Bradley Barcola and then a pass from the outside of the boot for Ruiz that needed Zabarnyi’s intervention.
Yamal was subdued in the second half and did not track back for PSG’s equaliser. Speaking of Harry Kane in a Bundesliga newsletter, Vincent Kompany highlighted the Bayern Munich goal machine’s ability to recover the ball. It is something Yamal will need to do more of.
As Ramos scored, Flick was visibly disappointed. “With (the score at) 1-1 you have to defend better, have a better structure in the defence,” he told reporters. “We will learn this and we have to make it better next time against this quality of team.”
