Broken Barcelona: How PSG killed Messi and co with overloads and transitions

Year after year, Barcelona keep chasing the ghosts of their past. No matter how hard the La Liga giants try, in their minds, they’re still stuck back in Rome, reliving that agonising memory of a loss that shouldn’t have been. On Tuesday night, the Catalans were humbled in the Champions League once more, this time by Paris Saint-Germain again.

It was a game that resembled a true contest less and less as time went on and Mauricio Pochettino should be given credit for that. Ronald Koeman, on the other hand, made some questionable decisions and his pragmatism in the face of a worthy opponent has once again gotten the better of him.

This tactical analysis will dissect both teams’ tactics and tell you just how Paris Saint-Germain humiliated Barcelona at the Camp Nou.

Lineups

Both teams have been struggling with some injuries and absences as of late. Koeman, however, had gotten some reinforcements in the form of the returning Sergiño Dest and Gerard Piqué, both of whom slotted directly into the gala XI. Still, their injury list is quite extensive as they couldn’t count on Philippe Coutinho, Ansu Fati, Sergi Roberto nor Ronald Araújo.

The rest of the squad, however, was mostly as expected. Barcelona were lined up in their traditional 4-3-3 formation.

PSG, on the other hand, were without both Neymar Jr. and Ángel Di María, two huge pieces of Pochettino’s jigsaw. In their place, the Argentine coach opted for Moise Kean and Mauro Icardi as the former slotted to the right and the latter down the middle channels, pushing Kylian Mbappé to the left.

Marco Verratti also returned directly to the starting lineup and Pochettino decided to once more utilise him in that free no.10 role, just ahead of Idrissa Gueye and Leandro Paredes, even though on paper he was an interior on the left.