UEFA Champions League 2019/20: Paris Saint-Germain vs Borussia Dortmund – tactical analysis

Paris Saint-Germain managed to overturn their first-leg deficit and will progress into the quarter-final of the Champions League following their 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund. The Ligue 1 titans finally delivered on the big stage, eliminating their Bundesliga rivals in the process.

This tactical analysis will delve deeper into both teams’ tactics and will use analysis to determine just how Thomas Tuchel got the better of Lucien Favre.

Lineups

For the home side, there were five changes in total in regards to their first clash in Germany a couple of weeks ago. Tuchel had to improvise with Marco Verratti, Thomas Meunier and Thiago Silva suspended while Kylian Mbappé was only fit enough to make the bench.

Pablo Sarabia was chosen instead of the young Frenchman up top while Thilo Kerher and Marquinhos formed the backline alongside another newcomer into the lineup, Juan Bernat, and Presnel Kimpembe. Finally, Leandro Paredes accompanied Idrissa Gueye in midfield that closed a trademark 4-4-2 formation.

On the other side of the pitch, Favre had much less to do in terms of his players as Borussia Dortmund were deployed in an identical formation as the one they used in Germany a couple of weeks back.

They lined up in a 3-4-3 system that mirrored the one used at Signal Iduna Park when they managed to snatch a 2-1 victory over their guests. This time around, however, those same tactics didn’t really work out that well, which we’ll now further explain in this tactical analysis.