Paris Saint-Germain’s poor form continues after the capital club fell 1-0 in the first-leg contest to Bayern Munich of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 on Tuesday night at the Parc des Princes.
The capital club had nine total shots, with four being on target. Additionally, PSG conceded possession of the ball as the Bundesliga side had it for 54 percent. Despite the outcome and performance, manager Christophe Galtier sees optimism.
“We had a difficult hour of play against a team that deprived us of the ball, which had a big possession, which came to rush us,” Galtier rold reporters (h/t RMC Sport). “We expected it on our eleven; at the start, there was not much depth, so we suspected they would come and press us very high. That was the case. We could have hoped for more animation on the sides compared to our sides, unfortunately, Achraf Hakimi was very quickly diminished in the first half. Afterward, there may be a question of timing; just when we are preparing the changes [in the second half] and Kylian was going to be able to enter, we take this goal. It’s damaging, even if Bayern deserved to score during this hour of play.
“Afterwards, we had 25-30 rather interesting minutes with a lot more speed, depth [and] connection between each other. I went back to an organization where the players have more benchmarks. Kylian’s contribution and the associations with Ney and Leo brought. The participation of Nuno Mendes, too, unfortunately, we could not have the same thing on the right. Marqui was a little touched too. He had to grit his teeth on his side. We had two – three situations, unfortunately, it was not enough.”
PSG had a better second half, and Kylian Mbappe did score, although VAR would rule it offside when he came into the contest. The French giants did appear more threatening on their attack once the 24-year-old entered the pitch.
The Ligue 1 side will have three more games before the second leg, hoping to overturn the 1-0 aggregate score on March 8. If Mbappe stays healthy and Galtier puts forth the right tactical game plan, then maybe PSG might have a shot.
