It's an action that sums up well the feeling that emerged from this round of 16 second leg of the Champions League between Real Sociedad and PSG: that of a team sure of itself, its strength and its plan. game, which went off without a hitch.
52 seconds, 16 passes, 9 Parisian outfield players touching the ball and, at the conclusion, an irresistible Mbappé: the second Parisian goal offered a concentrate of total football, the best this Luis Enrique team has to offer .
If the video of the action posted online by the official broadcaster only shows its finality from the handing of Ruiz back towards Lee, it is everything that is upstream which is fundamentally the most interesting for Paris, and let us decipher it for you.
KYLIAN MBAPPÉ’S DOUBLE!
😱
He provisionally becomes the top scorer in the Champions League this season 🔝#RSOPSG |
#UCL pic.twitter.com/Aq4QAMBnDr
— CANAL+ Foot (@CanalplusFoot) March 5, 2024
More than the finisher, one player in particular embodied this sequence: Vitinha.
The Portuguese, at the start of the action, was three times the relay for his partners in the construction of it and did not hesitate to make any effort, always following the ball to offer an additional solution to his team.
In his attitude, the accuracy and speed of his decisions, his resistance to pressing, the Parisian n°17 perfectly fulfilled the role entrusted to him by Enrique: that of a withdrawn playmaker, in which he had already been so good at the go.
Beraldo's pass, the trigger
The entire construction of this action was done in the Parisian half of the field.
The Reds and Blues, forced to retreat in the face of good pressing from Real following a corner played on the right, quickly regained control and swept their opponents wide.
Once the ball crossed the halfway line, the Parisian block first returned to its place perfectly, allowing each player to demonstrate more freedom and fluidity in their movements, like Vitinha therefore, but also Ousmane Dembélé, surprise playmaker in the Basque Country, or Lee, right winger who found himself on the left side to offer the final pass towards Mbappé.
Another moment was decisive in this action: Lucas Beraldo's very inspired pass for Fabián Ruiz.
The Brazilian defender, author of a very good match, showed on the Anoeta pitch all his quality in the kicking game, with always careful restarts and an almost astonishing ability to resist pressure, for only his second match in the Champions League.
In his position, central left, he strings together performances and his pass, which immediately eliminates four Real players, is the catalyst that takes this action from a series of passes to a real scoring opportunity.
Transformed by Kylian Mbappé, with the
mastery
that this sequence, during which only poor Lucas Hernandez was not allowed to touch the ball, deserved.