UEFA Champions League 2020/21: Manchester United vs Paris Saint-Germain – tactical analysis

The UEFA Champions League group stages had reached its penultimate round of fixtures with many spots still up for grabs. Group H was particularly interesting, with the likes of Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain and RB Leipzig finding themselves together. The latter two had been semi-finalists last year with the French side reaching the final only to lose out to Bayern Munich. However, qualification was not going to come easy for the two sides in this group with Manchester United emerging victorious against them in the earlier game weeks. With United needing just a point to seal qualification to the knockout stages and PSG in danger of finding themselves three points adrift of RB Leipzig after their win earlier, in this tactical analysis, we will look at the tactics of both Manchester United and PSG in their crucial fixture. We will begin our analysis with the lineups of both sides.

Lineups

Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s side lined up in his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, with Edinson Cavani leading the line. The Uruguayan striker scored two and assisted one in United’s comeback win against Southampton the previous weekend but his form was in stark contrast to that of Anthony Martial, who started down the left-wing. Martial is yet to record a goal or assist this season in the Premier League, a worrying stat considering that he has been the first-choice forward at the club.

Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes filled the other attacking positions, with the former being one of the top scorers in this edition of the competition. Fred and Scott McTominay started in holding midfield as they did in Paris in the previous meeting where they both put in impressive performances. The defence was the same for United, with Alex Telles having occupied the left-back slot for the last few fixtures and making it his own owing to Luke Shaw’s injury.