Pin, Cross, Score: Three steps to take out PSG

Perhaps the most iconic photo of the day is that of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar walking half-heartedly towards their own goal after Paris Saint-Germain failed to get past Manchester City’s electric pressing in the 42nd minute.

One image encapsulated everything, but watching the video makes it even worse. Messi, Neymar and Mbappe weren’t even in a position to support PSG’s build up in the first place. Isolated on an island of their own.

Tracking back wasn’t the only issue for PSG’s megastars. The pressing was lethargic when compared to City’s. Pep Guardiola’s team forced the French side multiple times into unfavorable decisions, while on the other hand City’s build up was relatively comfortable.

This game was similar to the one at the Parc des Princes. The only difference was the result. “We lost in Paris and the performance was quite similar in terms of being better in all the stats and the proposal was good.” Guardiola said after the game.

The plan to exploit PSG’s deficiencies was clear from the first minute. With the front three not tracking back to support PSG’s full backs Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes, City were trying to exploit the space on the outside of the full backs through in-swinging crosses into the box. Rather than finding the midfielder attacking the box in Ilkay Gundogan or Bernardo Silva as is the case in the example here…..

……the crosser (Joao Cancelo) should have played it wider to Riyad Mahrez who was calling for the pass. A consistent scene throughout the ninety minutes.

The role of Bernardo Silva and Gundogan however was to occupy the PSG full back by positioning themselves towards the far post. This way they force the full back to move inside to maintain horizontal compactness and mark their runs, leaving the wide City player free as is the case here. Cancelo is shaping up for an in-swinging cross and Gundogan positions himself towards the far post to force Mendes to pick him up, leaving Mahrez totally free.

Or here on the other side. Mahrez is shaping up for an in-swinging cross and immediately Bernardo Silva makes a run in-front of Hakimi and towards the far post. The idea is that instead of making a central run between the center-backs, this way the run forces Hakimi to react, leaving Raheem Sterling unoccupied.

The issue for City was that often the pass wasn’t played, like the situation here. Cancelo’s body shape and the presence of Idrissa Gueye means that an in-swinger isn’t possible, but Cancelo’s outside of the foot has delivered excellently before that he could have played the ball into Mahrez who is heavily signaling for the ball. The Algerian is totally free because non of the PSG forwards track back and Bernardo Silva’s positioning is optimum.

Four seconds later, Sterling has a better body shape to play the in-swinger towards the far post for Mahrez. Yet, he doesn’t play it and tries to dribble his way inside the pitch.

And when the ball was played, sometimes the accuracy of the pass meant that the ball didn’t find City’s wide player. Here, Sterling has cut inside to play the cross, Gundogan is in position to move Mendes central and just towards the end of the screen Mahrez is free.

Sterling’s cross was poor and it fell in-front of Mendes, who easily cleared the ball.

In the second half City’s attacks commenced and Gundogan and Bernardo Silva were still making the correct runs, hoping that their teammates can execute more efficiently. Here, the situation is perfect for Cancelo to find Mahrez with Mendes completely focused on Gundogan. But, the Portuguese's cross weirdly curls in the air moving away from the box.

By now, City haven’t executed the play perfectly despite capitalizing on the space outside of PSG’s full backs twice in the first half when Oleksandr Zinchenko and Mahrez came close to scoring the first goal of the game.

That honor went to Mbappe who’s shot through Ederson’s legs gave an indication that this might be a repeat of the first game. That wasn’t the case, and to make things better, City’s goals came from the same play they have been trying to perfect all game.

First, it was Gundogan again pinning Mendes but the crosser and the receiver were different. Rodri’s floated ball behind Mendes found the on-rushing Kyle Walker….

….who then squared it back to Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian didn’t manage to strike the ball but it fell to Sterling who was free to equalize.

Then the winner was a mirror copy. Jesus’ positioning pins Hakimi as the full back has to move inside to mark Jesus, which leaves Bernardo Silva unmarked out wide. Mahrez’s cross found Bernardo Silva……

…….who nonchalantly played a cutback to Jesus to score the winner.

City were set on exploiting the spaces outside PSG’s full backs since the beginning of the game, and the goals perfectly illustrated their approach. A win for City meant that they topped the group, while PSG secured second place after RB Leipzig thrashed Club Brugge.

“I think we need to improve. (In) all the aspects, all the areas.” was Mauricio Pochettino’s most notable comment after the game. The question is, which team should improve? The team of three or the team of eight?