Paris Saint-Germain earned important three points in the opening round of their Champions League campaign on Tuesday, by beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 at the Parc des Princes in Group F. Labeled as “the group of death”, it also features AC Milan and Newcastle, who played a goalless draw at San Siro.
It was Kylian Mbappe who opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 49th minute, and Achraf Hakimi set what ended up as the final score nine minutes later.
The Vitinha impact
PSG played a possession-based game, typical for a side under the command of Luis Enrique, who led Barcelona to the treble in 2014/15. Having the ball at their feet for 69% of the playing time, the Ligue 1 champions controlled the flow of the match pretty well and took a total of 17 shots.
Their accuracy could’ve, however, been better, with just three of those 17 shots finding their way towards the frame of the goal. The same can be said of Dortmund, who hit the target just once in 14 attempts.
Dortmund actually threatened more in the early stages of the contest, and it appeared at first that they would be able to cause serious problems to PSG and get a good result in the French capital. But Enrique’s men managed to stem the tide and turn it in their favour as the first half wore on, and much of it was down to Vitinha, whose presence in the middle of the park was of great significance.
The 23-year-old Portuguese showed an excellent ability to keep the ball under pressure, frequently from several opponents at once, as well as to choose the right option for a pass. He linked the ranks of his team into a seamless unit, whether through a short-passing game, or a long-ball switch of sides, or a clever vertical pass for a runner to latch onto. He even came close to scoring early on – his shot beat Gregor Kobel in the Dortmund goal but not the post.
With long-serving midfield controller Marco Veratti gone from the club, Vitinha’s importance for PSG cannot be overstated at the moment. In a game like this, where it was extremely important for his team to remain patient and build their play over and over again to find a breakthrough, the performance of the 11-cap Portugal international was a crucial factor.
The penalty decisions
There was only one penalty awarded by referee Jesus Gil from Spain, but there was one call at either end of the pitch which the Spaniard waved away. The VAR confirmed all three decisions, and rightly so.
An all three occasions the ball hit an arm of a defender, and though there was no intention from any of the defenders to play the ball that way, the situation in early second half which was given as a penalty was clearly different. Niklas Sule’s arm had indeed made him a bigger obstacle as Mbappe poked the ball goalwards, and it appears very likely that it would’ve gone on target, possibly even in the back of the net.
Overall, Gil conducted the game well, obviously making the right decision in important moments, and the rest of his calls, though some may be disputed, didn’t have such an impact. Furthermore, his criteria was consistent, applying the laws of the game equally for both teams.
Struggling Dembele
Ousmane Dembele expectedly started on the right wing for PSG and played from the first to the final whistle.
But since his arrival from Barcelona this summer for €50 million, the France international has had a difficult time settling in. This was his fifth game for the club in all competitions, and he’s yet to make a goal contribution, either as a scorer or with an assist. His performances have mostly been forgettable in every other aspect too.
So far, Dembele hasn’t lived up to the expectations in the French capital, and while one may argue that maybe it wasn’t easy playing against his former club in this game, the fact remains that he didn’t do anything noteworthy for his current team on Tuesday, apart from wasting a few rather promising chances.
Mbappe is a terrific player and a handful for any defence on the planet, but for his attacking threat to reach its full potential, he needs a counterbalance, a teammate on the other flank who will help stretch the opposition back line thin, and prevent it from giving him a sufficient amount of attention.
This is obviously what Dembele was supposed to bring to this team after the departures of Lionel Messi and Neymar, but so far, his influence has been marginal at best. It remains to be seen what his fate will be once Marco Asensio returns from injury, but as things stand at the moment, there appears to be a seat on the substitutes’ bench with his name on it.
Dortmund need focus
Setting the reputation of certain players aside, this game showed that Dortmund possess a large amount of quality themselves, even if they didn’t deserve to get anything from it. There are good players in every position, a nice mixture of youth and experience overall, as well as considerable depth to their squad.
The opening 15 minutes at the Parc des Princes showed quite clearly what this team can do when they set their minds to the task. But in order to win a football match, especially at this level, staying focused for about 15 minutes is not going to do the trick. Many managers in the game frequently speak about the need for their respective teams to maintain the level of performance throughout the contest, never to let it drop, because a second’s worth of being unfocused often proves costly against top opposition.
As has been said, Dortmund threatened in the opening stages of the game, but as they failed to produce that delicate final pass or a composed finish time and again, they wavered in their belief and were no match for PSG, once the hosts sorted themselves out and started showing what they can do in turn.
It’s early yet – this was just the first game and there are five more to come in the group stage, but things won’t get much easier against either Milan in the next round, or Newcastle after that. If Dortmund mean to go through, Terzic will have to find a way to help his men keep their focus consistently up.
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