Before the second leg between Bayern and Paris, I went to several fan forums abroad and found that the two sides seemed to have chatted similarly. For example, "use high pressing to limit the opponent's ball", "must play counterattack speed", and there are a little doubts about the formation.
Bayern fans: Are we playing a three-centre-back or a four-back?
Paris fans: Speaking of 352, how do I think Messi is more of a back than Vitinha?
In fact, these discussions about the formation really illustrate the current playing style of the two teams and the arrangement for this game.
On Bayern's side, although the switch between three or four defenders is nothing new in the football circle, the head coach does not engage in such dynamic changes, and he is embarrassed to say that he is an academy when he goes out. Not to mention that Nagelsmann, who has always preferred three central defenders in his heart, has wavered between Bayern's traditional 4231 since he played.
The defensive position is still the standard 4231, and neither Pavard nor Stanisic on the right can stay behind. Davis and Koeman flew together, with the big and small mula in the middle and a Shupomotin in front as a pile. Compared with Sane and Gnabry, who are complained by fans as "Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chicks", this set of offensive teams is indeed more in line with the core idea of the coach - two-rib knife.
On the Paris side, limited by the impact of Neymar's serious injury absence, the arrangement of adding a central defender to a single striker is a more balanced offensive and defensive option.
Messi retreated and Verratti and Ramos formed a triangle of the ball, and if he could play a counterattack, he would try to send a long pass to Mbappe as soon as possible, and if he couldn't play, he would let Ruiz insert forward to fill the gap. At the same time, appropriately abandon the squat defense that is not very preventable, and take advantage of more midfield opportunities to surround and fight on the spot, and strive to play a continuous impact.
But this set of operations, this game is greatly limited by Bayern. The method is also clear - lock up Messi.
As long as Messi pulls back to get the ball, no matter who is defending around, he will grab the confrontation at the first time, even if it is Davis, who should have returned quickly, or Upa, who is dragging the center back. As soon as De Ligt tried to steal and was passed, Gretzka immediately came over to show a little pectorals to teach: don't just use your feet, use your body.
For Paris now, if you can prevent Messi, you have basically prevented Mbappe. The remaining two or three percent were given to Stan who was crouching, Upa who could run, and Sommer, who attacked early.
Messi Mbappe can indeed be decisive, after all, everyone knows that cutting off the QW of the Paris keyboard is equivalent to freezing their counterattack. The rest... Vitinha said that a straight pass across the defensive line is not in line with the character, and Ruiz, who is close to 1.9 meters tall, can probably be shocked by a header.
Of course, Paris also has a good side, and it is also limited to opponents. In front of the three central defenders and three backs in positional battles, every persistent strong punch by Bayern will become a difficult challenge to pass five levels and cut six generals. What's more, the likes of Vitinha and Marquinhos are flexible defenders, and there is a Champions League limited skin Ramos at the bottom of the pass.
As a result, Big Mu, who should have been connecting ribs, played hard in the first half. Although Musiala is very agile with the ball, he cuts inside and concedes more possessions than he creates chances. Mueller changed from a second child to a sixth baby, and his biggest sense of presence is to command his teammates to nag. And Shupomotin's small technique is obviously not as good as the former Lewandowski, and there is no way to help them change positions.
So if you look at the half-court data, you will find that the two sides are similar in terms of possession to the number of shots on goal. The two teams managed to limit each other's main points of attack, and Davis and Hakimi, who could locally blast, chased each other wildly, achieving neutralization from both strategic and tactical levels.
To put it another way, just like the fire of Siwa meets the water of Wuwa, what appears is not a song of ice and fire, but...
Throughout the first half, there was only one good chance for both sides to come close to a goal. Bayern's side was still Musiala receiving a pass from Davis and deftly turned, but a small-angle shot was saved by the brave Donnarumma. Paris forced Sommer's huge mistake and Vitinha's empty goal was saved by Matthijs de Ligt.
Objectively speaking, this ball did have a reason for tripping over Sommer. But when it happened to Vitinha, people can't help but want to complain: Big brother, are you all on the power of shooting to the power of passing?
In such a tight knockout match, every performance against such an opportunity is decisive. If Paris equalised on aggregate in the first half, perhaps Mbappe and Messi would have had more room to counterattack in the second half.
However, not only did they not send back, but they also sent back an error of the same paragraph.
Substitute Mujele's Bishab sent a knife mountain goal, and Verratti, who was not a dish but addicted, did not observe the situation in advance and was sandwiched into a burger patty by Müller and Gretzka. The latter calmly spread the word to Shupomotin, and Bayern once again showed their cruel nature of never letting go when they saw meat.
The aggregate score was 0-2, with half an hour left, Paris had to launch a general attack. Galtier looked at the bench with expectant eyes, then sent a group of small children. In addition to Bernat, an old acquaintance of Bayern fans, the other three substitutions in Paris in the second half went to Bishab, Emery and Ekitik, aged 17, 17 and 20 respectively.
Except for the always old Emery, the performances of others fully prove why the big managers all like mature men in the Champions League knockout stage.
Throughout the Paris counter-attack, only Ramos can pass the ball to Messi steadily, and it is Ramos who can compete for the biggest threat from Messi's corner. The one who wears white is still Shui Ye, but this white clothes are not necessarily Real Madrid. Two headers were unsuccessful, Messi and Kylian Mbappe were still completely cut off, and Paris faced the Bayern defense in two legs.
After the lead, Nagelsmann looked at the bench and did not smile, which was already a full demonstration of professionalism. Substitutions raised on the sidelines, numbered Sane, Mane, Gnabry and Joao Cancelo.
It is not difficult to guess the next plot, and Bayern fans can recite it. Originally only known about strong ribs, began to have a three-dimensional attack of crossing, and Mueller changed from Liuwa to Donkey Kong. Sane plays as a centre, and it's much better for you to play here than in the starting lineup, and he and Gnabry don't play inside in positional battles, and they are still good friends with a lot of space on the counter-attack. As for Mane's offside goal, it was a regular cheer and winning dessert.
In the end, Bayern won 2-0 thanks to goals from Shubomoting and Gnabry, and won all the way to the quarter-finals with an aggregate score of 3-0.
Looking back at this game, you will have a lot of familiar feelings.
It was a classic "Parisian loss". Again, many times it seems that there is a little bit of bad luck, but behind the luck does not seem to be completely devoid of commonality. Whether the main player is injured and can only be counted by the youngsters, or the superstar does not explode and no one else stands up, it is difficult to say that these have nothing to do with the lineup construction.
It was also a typical "Bayern win". It's hard to tell who played best in this game, with Fat De and Upa both being the gods of war and Stanasic dreaming of returning to last year's UEFA Nations League that singled out Kylian Mbappe. The highest rating in the data is Davis, and the official reason for the best for captain Mueller may also be a bit of a representation of the team in accepting the award.
In addition, at this point, I seem to have finally touched the edge of Nagelsmann's thinking mode.
Although an offensive pattern that goes inside to the end is often constipated, it is all about consuming the defensive line and waiting for mistakes. While Sane and Gnabry often waste chances, Koeman's switchback is costly and must have substitutes and rotations. Although Mane has yet to find much feeling, the defence has given the confidence to wait for a three-shot burst from the bench. Although this set of things is difficult to solve with anyone in the Bundesliga, it really works well when it comes to playing strong teams in the Champions League.
Many people say that Bayern's style this season is called "Gou Win", but I prefer to call it "Gou Gou in attack and defense".