Cavani Misses Equally as Costly for PSG as Trapp's Error in Real Madrid Defeat
MADRID—Paris Saint-Germain were made to pay for their profligacy in front of goal at Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night as Real Madrid ran out 1-0 winners in their UEFA Champions League Group A heavyweight clash.
Despite the Ligue 1 champions enjoying the better of the chances in the Spanish capital, the game was decided by an error from visiting goalkeeper Kevin Trapp. The German misjudged the bounce of a deflected Toni Kroos shot that was going out for a Real corner, presenting substitute Nacho with the chance to score.
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The result means that PSG will almost certainly have to settle for second place in the group for the second consecutive year. Laurent Blanc’s men should feel aggrieved at how many chances they wasted in Madrid, but also how they failed to capitalise on Real’s injury-hit squad in Paris a fortnight ago.
However, while it is easy to blame Trapp for his inexcusable poor judgment of the ball in the build-up to the goal, an equal share of the responsibility should be laid at Edinson Cavani’s door after the Uruguayan missed two important chances at Santiago Bernabeu.
The first was when he failed to make headed contact with an inviting Maxwell cross in front of goal towards the end of the first half. The second—moments before the break—was when he fluffed a brilliant one-on-one opportunity after being played through excellently by Angel Di Maria.
As a €64 million striker, Cavani should at least be hitting the target with the sorts of chances he was presented with.
Yet El Matador was unable to even make contact with one of the opportunities, while he will wish that he had left the second one untouched as his hideous control led to him completely destroying the opening.
It was Stamford Bridge from the past two seasons all over again for Cavani on Tuesday.
Those haunting nights in London were where the South American was played in for scorable chances on both occasions that were passed up. He was disappointed with himself for the misses and he drifted out of the game after that.
Trapp’s mistake was a poor one—like the gaffe that handed Girondins de Bordeaux a 2-2 draw at Parc des Princes in Ligue 1 back in September—but at least the German displayed the mental fortitude to recover from it and pull off some other impressive saves.
As for Cavani, his pair of first half misses rendered him as good as off the pitch for the second half. Instead of replacing the 28-year-old with the more direct threat of Lucas Moura though, Blanc left his No. 9 on in the belief that more opportunities would come.
They were not forthcoming, at least not for the former SSC Napoli man, underlining the importance of taking any and every chance—or half chance—that materialises in a massive showdown.
Aside from Trapp and Cavani, almost all of the PSG players deserve credit for the way they took the game to Real and pushed to create chances, especially in the first half.
Di Maria, Thiago Silva, Serge Aurier, Maxwell and Adrien Rabiot all deserve praise for their roles in what was otherwise a fine display away from home against one of the Champions League favourites.
However, it was not enough for Blanc’s men and Les Parisiens desperately need to become more efficient in front of goal if they are to have any real chance of going past the quarterfinals this season.
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