Playing at Signal Iduna Park, Matchday 6 of the Champions League Group F presented a “life and death” match for PSG. Les Parisiens are required to at least not lose to Dortmund, if they don’t want to be knocked out by Newcastle or AC Milan. Competing at the same time, Newcastle and AC Milan must beat each other in St. Petersburg. James Park, while hoping Dortmund can beat PSG.
Both teams almost fielded all their best players in this match. Only minor changes were made by the two coaches in response to the busy schedule ahead of the winter break. In the Dortmund camp, Edin Terzic rotated Marcel Sabitzer and Emre Can by placing Salih Ozcan and Julian Brandt in the midfielder position. Meanwhile in the PSG camp, Luis Enrique has always put full trust in Warren Zaire-Emery since he recovered from injury, meaning Manuel Ugarte has to wait for his chance on the bench. Bradley Barcola has found comfort as a left wingback, although he still seems individualistic in several matches.
PSG took the initiative to attack because they couldn’t lose in this match. A heroic save was made by Niklas Suele when he thwarted Mbappe’s chance to score a goal in the 17th minute. Mbappe escaped the offside trap when he received a cross from Lucas Hernandez. With his trademark movement, he passed goalkeeper Kobel with a swipe to the left, and immediately kicked the ball into an empty net. Niklas Suele, who had been failing to catch Mbappe, decided to run straight to cover the goal while sliding to increase speed. Very good defensive vision, because Mbappe’s shot hit his leg at the right time. A Defender Saves Of The Year from the doorstop of the German National Team.
Two minutes later it was Barkola’s turn to shoot a curved shot, unfortunately the ball hit the post to the left of Kobel’s goal. Dortmund also did not remain silent, they took advantage of PSG’s defense which looked shaky in a fast attack. In the 26th minute, Marco Reus kicked the second ball straight into the penalty box, but Donnarumma was able to ward it off brilliantly. The goalless score lasted until the end of the first half.
In the second half, Die Borussen took the initiative to attack more and scored their first goal in the 51st minute. Niklas Fullkrug got a wild ball after Marquinhos and Bensebaini’s duel. He faked a kick to outwit Milan Skriniar, and passed the ball to Karim Adeyemi who was standing free. Adeyemi fired a low left-footed shot into the left corner of Donnarumma’s goal. 1-0 for the hosts through exposure to three PSG defenders who dropped too low. Commentators said PSG’s defense seemed to be experiencing “chaos”.
Luckily it didn’t take long for PSG to equalize. 56′ minute Kylian Mbappe stabbed from the left side to attack Wolf and pushed the ball horizontally into the front of the goal. Barkola spread his legs to do a dummy, but the ball slightly hit Mats Hummels’ leg and left the penalty box. The wild ball headed into Zaire-Emery’s running path, who with one dribble immediately executed a typical futsal “cocor” kick, until the ball went between Adeyemi’s legs and then penetrated Kobel’s goal.
Donyell Malen got the last chance of the match with a hard kick from outside the penalty box in the 60th minute, but Donnarumma with his class was able to keep the ball away from the goal. The rest of the match was spent by both teams just turning the ball around, especially knowing that at St. James Park AC Milan managed to beat Newcastle.
The final whistle was blown by referee Glenn Nyberg from Sweden, and the PSG players, despite ensuring progress, did not look too happy. Poor performance in defense will be a tough homework assignment for Luis Enrique in the future.
Just like Inter Milan on the previous day, PSG, who are runners-up in Group F, must prepare to face a tough draw. The draw will be held Monday (18 December) in Switzerland, with PSG’s potential opponents as follows. Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Atletico Madrid, Manchester City and Barcelona. They have to erase their bad history, having been eliminated 5 times in the round of 16 in the last 7 seasons. Most recently, they were defeated by Munich with a score of 0-3 in the 2022/2023 Champions League campaign.
Luis Enrique certainly felt the good news about this qualification. President Nasser Al-Khelaifi often places the Champions League in the evaluation standards of his coaches, because
na they practically control the domestic league. Luis Enrique’s job is guaranteed to be safe until February after the Champions League last 16 match, he is even confident of challenging the other group winners by saying that PSG will be stronger next February.
Following are the PSG coach’s statements after the match against Dortmund, “We suffer like everyone else and at the same time we enjoy it when we attack. But I think the reflection we can make is that after eleven new players, new staff, new ways and ideas of playing, even a new training center. I think we can be proud. We are in the toughest group…, in February, we will play against the top teams in the group, but we are looking forward to it.”
The next good news is that this qualification can still prevent Kylian Mbappe from leaving PSG in the winter transfer window. It is common knowledge that Mbappe’s contract will expire at the end of the season, next June. His contract renewal at the beginning of this season was only valid for a month, so at the end of the season there will be another saga regarding his transfer, which always leads to Los Blancos, Real Madrid. Even though Florentino Perez often rejects plans for Mbappe’s arrival, it seems that there is not a single club in the world that does not want the arrival of this French superstar.
Mbappe can focus on his team until the end of the season because there are still Champions League knockout matches, so it will be difficult for him to think about plans to leave in January. Just for your information, if Mbappe moves to another team in January, PSG will still receive money as a transfer fee. However, if the move for Kyky, Mbappe’s nickname, is made at the end of the season, then PSG will not get a penny from the transfer fee.
It is worth waiting to see whether PSG can go further in the Champions League, with their best achievement being the Champions League finalists for the 2019/2020 season.
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