Unai Emery's 100% UEFA Champions League record might had suffered a damage on Tuesday after Juup Heynckes expertedly set-up his Bayern side to frustrate and inflict a 3-1 defeat of the French side in Munich.
Tactically the German (4-2-3-1 formation) got the better of the Spaniard (4-3-3 formation) right immediately the line-ups were announced. In central-back position , Heynkes dropped Jerome Boateng and Javi Martinez preferring to pair Matt Hummels with youngster Nicklas Sule mainly to notify the aerial threat of Edison Cavani judging from Sule's superior height and aerial ability . In midfield the German again dropped Arturo Vidal despite needing his bursting energy and drive instead pairing Tolisso (got a double ) and Sebastian Rudy mainly due to Vidal's tendency to play on the edge as an early caution for him might curtail his involvement in the game . There was no much surprise in attack although Thomas Muller was dropped with Frank Ribery given licence to roam in any position, James Rodriguez ( recorded as assist) solely focused on creating chances in attack for Robert Lewandowski and Kingsley Coman pushing Kurzawa deep to his penalty box unable to help PSG in attack the same way Ribery did to Dani Alves.
Firstly , PSG were forced to play narrow barely using the wings as their three midfielders (Verratti, Draxler and Rabiot) and attackers struggle when asked to provide width ( Neymar and Mbappe inverted wingers often preferring to cut and shoot) with the only player who provides Perfect crossing nullified and pinned back all night (Alves) by the duo of Ribery and Coman who often interchanged at random. This isolated Cavani who thrives on aerial duels as he was forced to drop deep to get involved in the game with little service from the wings. It is surprising that Emery did not deem it fit to play Angel Di Maria as the game really needed him to stretch the Bayern backline so as to create space for either Cavani or Neymar. In total PSG managed only 17 crosses compared to Bayern's 28.
Secondly, Bayern charged at PSG every moment they French side had possession (as many as three players tackling one PSG player in possession) coupled with their high defensive line which forced PSG deep and Hummels often going forward to become an extra man in midfield and the likes of Rudy, Tolisso and Coman charging the Parisians; often committing fouls to slow down the pace of the game to their advantage as PSG clearly missed the energy and drive of now departed Blaise Matuidi. In total Bayern commited 18 fouls while PSG only had 12.
Thirdly and lastly Emery's side did not have a plan B as they failed to use the wings with Di Maria or Lucas Moura as well as shoot more often from distance. On the contrary the French side preferred to pass their way into the net and this worked against them although Mbappe's goal showed passing the ball around wasn't entirely bad but when observed clearly it shows that boasting the likes of Cavani, Draxler and Neymar (players who have accurate shooting ability), trying long distance shots with the Bayern number two (Ulreich) in goal could have been a little more fruitful.
In the end, Heynckes showed he was an old fox as Emery failed to react as well as making wrong substitutions outlining struggles with a Plan B when the front three fail to fire his side to victory.
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