Small space, crowded environment and lack of control: how Paris ended up becoming extinct in Milan

European trips have not been successful for Paris Saint-Germain this season. After the humiliating defeat against Newcastle (4-1), on October 4, Luis Enrique’s team fell again, on Tuesday, in a very boiling atmosphere at San Siro (2-1). In second place in their group, just one point behind Dortmund, the Parisians retain all their chances of qualifying, and can still hope to snatch first place, but they have not eliminated the doubts of recent weeks.

Mbappe’s gang alternates between good and less good, but above all he repeats the same mistakes. However, things started well with Milan Skriniar’s early opening goal. An ideal scenario would have allowed the Parisians to wait for their opponents to better punish them through counter-attacks. But it did not depend on a very quick reaction from the Italians, as Leao scored the equaliser, which finally put the Parisians to sleep, through the alternating current that often lost control of the match to hope for the best.

“We know the quality of Milan, and we must not neglect it. It was a high-level match, and we know how difficult it is to play here. We started well by controlling but then they took advantage of their strength by moving quickly forward. We suffered,” captain Marquinhos admitted to Canal + Goal. “The second changes the match. Giroud, we know his quality. We tried to press, but they took advantage of the spaces.”

Often alone on the left wing, and able to gain speed with the ball, Rafael Leao also hurt the French badly. In the other direction, the Parisian attack lacked success, such as the lists of Dembélé and Lee, but above all it was consumed by an organized and cohesive defence, which did not leave much in the second half. In midfield, there is a statistic that shows Milan’s superiority: Uruguayan Manuel Ugarte, who usually reigns supreme in midfield, has won only four small encounters out of fifteen contested.

“He helped make the game crazy.”

“We had more difficulty finding space after the second goal. “The Italian school defends very well,” said Marquinhos, with Vitinha agreeing. “We wanted to control the game in the second half, but the second goal changed everything. Our game idea had to stay the same but spaces were difficult to find. »

In this context, Luis Enrique expressed his regret at the lack of control from his team. “We helped make the match crazy, I wish we had more control over the match, because it was a football match and not a tennis match where everyone interacts with each other (…) The only criticism is our lack of control. I like it when we have more “In general, we control better than Milan.”

The only Parisian who stopped in the mixed zone, Kylian Mbappé, did not take long to answer questions. A handful of words and seconds to express his disappointment after seeing his team suffer their second setback in the Champions League. “It’s a defeat, a second defeat away from home, it’s never easy to lose. We’re disappointed but a lot of things were missed. We’ll try to respond against Newcastle at home (October 28).”

The priority will then be to win in order to maintain the lead, if not qualify for the round of 16, before a semi-final match at Dortmund on December 13. A date already marked in the diaries of Parisian fans.