Paris Saint-Germain’s formidable attacking trio normally strike fear into opponents, but in Tuesday’s 2-1 home defeat to Manchester United in their Champions League opener there was no collective response when the forwards misfired.
Neymar, Angel Di Maria and Kylian Mbappe were disappointing and the French champions lacked aggressiveness and intelligence elsewhere to make up for their stars’ under-par performances.
“There was no intensity, no aggressiveness, no pressing, no counter pressing. It was weird, I don’t know why,” lamented coach Thomas Tuchel, whose team looked subdued throughout in a first group stage home defeat in 25 years.
Tuchel replaced Idrissa Gueye by forward Moise Kean at halftime when PSG trailed 1-0 following Bruno Fernandes’ penalty, but the decision left a hole in midfield rather than adding creativity to the front line.
Tuchel said Gueye was injured — the third midfielder to be ruled out with a physical problem after Marco Verratti and Leandro Paredes — but he waited until the 77th to send another midfielder Rafinha onto the field.
“It was not a tactical problem. There was a problem with the intensity and the attitude,” Tuchel said.
Less than two months after reaching the Champions League final, PSG looked ordinary at best. Tuchel had no explanation as Neymar failed to score in four consecutive games in the competition for the first time since 2013.
“I don’t know. We had a lot of problems during the first half especially. We had a good preparation, with good games and good training sessions,” said Tuchel.
Tuchel, whose contract expires at the end of the season, said he had a bad feeling before kickoff at an empty Parc des Princes.
“The atmosphere in the dressing room before the match was a little bit too quiet,” he said. “I had a weird feeling. Usually there’s a lot of music, loud music and there it was very quiet.”
Less euphoria for Solskjaer
The victory, however, was not as euphoric as the previous one, according to coach United Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
United’s previous trip to Paris in 2019 ended with Marcus Rashford scoring an injury-time penalty that secured qualification for the quarter-finals on away goals, while Tuesday’s 2-1 win was just a stepping stone in Group H.
“It’s a different feeling from the last time we won here, it’s at the start of the group stage but we’ve beaten a fantastic team,” said Solskjaer after Rashford again netted the winner, three minutes from fulltime.
“Last time it was a knockout and it was euphoric, this is sterile without the fans but it’s still excellent and we deserved to win.”
The game was played in an empty stadium amid the Covid-19 crisis.
United next take on RB Leipzig, who lead the group after beating Istanbul Basaksehir 2-0.
“We know we need 10 points to get through so next week’s game is very important. There are so many games,” Solskjaer said.
United also showed steel in defence, with Axel Tuanzebe making light work of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar in his first game in 10 months for the Premier League side.
“He has been unbelievable today,” keeper David De Gea said. “He played against two of the best players in the world in Neymar and Mbappe so he did really, really well. I am really happy for him. He has been in difficult moments with the injuries but now he has shown today that he is capable of playing in big games.”
Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe (right) vies for the ball with Manchester United’s Axel Tuanzebe during the UEFA Champions League Group H match at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, France, on Tuesday. (AFP)
