Barcelona vs. PSG: Tactical Review of Champions League Game

Barcelona eased their way to a 2-0 (5-1 aggregate) victory over Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night, sealing passage to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals. Neymar scored both goals to cap an easy night's work.

Formations and XIs

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With Barcelona it's always 4-3-3, and here Andres Iniesta played one of his finest 45 minutes from midfield ahead of Sergio Busquets and next to Ivan Rakitic. Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez started up front, while Javier Mascherano was moved back to centre-back in place of Jeremy Mathieu.

Paris Saint-Germain's formation was...difficult to define (to put it nicely). They had little shape to them, sometimes appearing 4-4-1-1, sometimes 4-3-3 and sometimes as a diamond. It was a mess.

1. PSG's 'Shape'

"We cannot afford to concede goals and that here is practically impossible. We have nothing to lose but will do our best," Blanc admitted ahead of the game to Sky Sports. Some pep talk, Laurent.

It's very difficult to work out what the Frenchman tried to do here. He's got a bit of a reputation for panicking on the big stage (two right-backs against Spain at Euro 2012, throwing Marquinhos on at holding midfield last season at Stamford Bridge) and it feels as though he lost this one before it began.

The 4-3-3 is PSG's bread and butter and they do it well, but this XI, and this formation, bridged two or three different shapes at any one time.

Credit: beINSport

It was perhaps closest to a 4-4-2 diamond, with Edinson Cavani high up next to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Blaise Matuidi representing the entire left side, Yohan Cabaye straddling a role at right-central midfield, Marco Verratti deepest and Javier Pastore doing something from a sort of No. 10-ish position.

In short, it looked thrown together—and not methodically so. Despite technically having a man advantage in the centre (four vs. three), Iniesta cut through the visitors like a sharp pair of scissors, weaving through half-hearted challenges with ease.

Barca began switching the ball out wide early so the midfielders couldn't get back to cover the full-backs, and Jordi Alba and Dani Alves enjoyed prolific attacking evenings when receiving these longer passes.

The first goal came as a result of Iniesta's mazy run through the middle, then David Luiz, who had another shocking game, completely lost Neymar slipping in behind.

2. No Urgency, Riddled With Mistakes

In the first leg, we were rather critical of PSG's first-half display; they lacked urgency and bite in midfield, allowing Barcelona to set the tempo and control the game. At 0-0 that's not the end of the world, but you can't start the second leg 3-1 down and do the same.

PSG did.

Once again, and in spite of the changed formation, the visitors stood off Barca in the beginning and allowed them to pass it about. This is a side with athletes in it—Matuidi, Cavani, Pastore can all run for days—so why are they not harassing and pressing? Why are they allowing Barcelona time and space to pass the ball, despite needing three goals to qualify for the semi-finals?

Credit: beINSport

When PSG did get the ball, the tempo was slow and they knocked it about too. Marco Verratti saw a lot of it in deep areas, but the entire sided struggle to initiate quicker attacks until much later when Lucas Moura was introduced.

The game had an exhibition, pre-season feel to it; neither side were particularly fussed, and once Xavi had replaced Iniesta at half-time to entirely kill the tie off, the match was as good as done.

3. Bright Spots?

There are plenty of positives to take from this performance if you're a Barcelona fan. Being able to see out games properly is key to knockout football, and despite Luis Enrique's move to a more direct style, he's shown he can dial it back and kill off proceedings too.

Messi drifted into a more central role in the second half, swapping with Suarez (who went to the right), in order to link with Xavi and manage possession. We haven't seen him play so centrally for such a fixed period for a while, and he proved he's still got the turn of pace to escape tackles and break forward.

David Vincent/Associated Press

PSG were dire across the board; the shape was shocking, the formation close to undefinable and the key players didn't perform. Verratti and Matuidi both played well enough, but no player in white put in a performance better than 6/10.

If there's one individual takeaway of note, it's that Verratti looked quite a lot like a Barca player in possession on the Camp Nou turf.

Bits and Bobs

• Despite Luiz's good form this season, it's been proven again he needs the world's best centre-back (Thiago Silva) next to him to hold his hand. 
• The introduction of Lucas allowed PSG to go direct and fast, but the final ball was absent whenever they launched forward.
• Mascherano was once again fantastic at centre-back, mopping up and blocking any chances PSG did fashion, and he carried on from where he left off against Valencia at the weekend.
• Messi hasn't scored in the knockout stages yet (four-game drought), but don't worry: he's still playing superbly. 

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