Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain played out a 0-0 draw in their latest Champions League match, albeit of the high quality variety. There was a lot going on despite the lack of goals. Let’s get into it.

PSG arrived on the back of a home defeat to Chelsea the previous week, adding importance to this fixture. Real started their campaign with a win in Albania against KFF Vllaznia Shkoder, and set up in a familiar way: a 4-3-3 transforming to a defensive 4-4-2 with Zornoza moving up to support Esther in the first line of pressing. Weir started on the right, but had the freedom to move infield. PSG went for their usual 4-3-3, with Martens taking up the No.9 spot. That meant Bachmann reverted to the left wing.

PSG rotate the 6 position, Lawrence pushes up

Real Madrid have caused problems for opponents with their defensive organisation and the intensity of their pressing in midfield. Certainly, Manchester City would rather not face them again any time soon. Esther is a penalty box predator, but with a voracious appetite for defensive work, and leads by example. Here she was joined by Zornoza in trying to eliminate PSG’s routes into defensive midfield and force them wide or more direct and into traffic central.

Unfortunately for Real, PSG are not Manchester City. Whereas teams like City have one base midfielder with strict alignment to her zone, PSG have a lot of fluidity in midfield. That makes them tougher to block out or mark, because different players turn up in the 6 zone at different times.

Jean-Francois started there, but often vacated to drop between the centre-backs and make a 3-v-2 to stretch Real’s frontline apart and create more angles into midfield. Sometimes Geyoro would show up in the 6 area, and sometimes she would pull out to the side of Ilestedt in the right-back space. At one point, Martens dropped all the way back from the frontline to receive out from the centre-backs in the 6 area. As you can see, Real’s front two were not prepared, with Zornoza naturally drawn towards Jean-Francois creating a gap between her and Esther to play out of.

These movements off the ball confused Real’s marking and ensured options for PSG’s centre-backs. Along with the technical quality of Jean-Francois to play one-touch and Geyoro to keep the ball under serious scrutiny, it was difficult for Real to win the ball in PSG’s half.

Another issue was that PSG’s rotation on the right enabled them to set up an overload on the right flank, with Lawrence pushing high to test Real’s structure and create a 2-v-1 on Real’s left-back, Carmona. Diani played mostly inside Carmona, running in-to-out behind on her blind side. Naturally, Carmona narrowed in to help her centre-backs deal with Diani, but that only created—at times comical amounts of—space for Lawrence overlapping on the wing. 

PSG appeared to specifically look for Lawrence, through combination play on that side, or through a quick diagonal ball to find her before Real could track back. On one occasion they suffered the consequences of Lawrence pushing up too early, when possession was not yet established. Off of a long ball and a turnover, the Canadian was caught high, well out of position. Esther infiltrated, took Ilestedt away from the box, and crossed in for a 2v2 situation that nearly resulted in a goal.

Real struggle against PSG man-marking

Whereas Real defended in a zonal 4-4-2, PSG employed man-marking in central midfield. With Jean-Francois behind Geyoro and Groenen, they were able to match up and mark Zornoza, Olofsson and Toletti, limiting their time on the ball.

Real tried a similar approach to PSG on the right—Weir coming infield while Robles overlapped—but they weren’t able to keep possession long enough to consistently set up the interchange and work a free player. Karchaoui did a good job getting tight to Weir between the lines, so Real were rarely able to get into a position to find Robles overlapping in space on that flank. Sometimes they tried to force it, jamming the ball into Weir’s feet when Karchaoui was all over, ready to tackle or step in and intercept.

PSG’s man-marking in midfield frequently meant Jean-Francois, the designated holding midfielder, was dragged out of position. This meant the centre-backs, Ilestedt and De Almeida, were tasked with handling threats between the lines, such as Esther and Zornoza withdrawing into the space that appeared. In theory it’s a risky strategy, but the truth was Real lacked threat behind to keep PSG’s centre-backs guessing. Esther and Zornoza are both more inclined to drop off than be available behind, and neither is lightning-quick anyway. 

The only pace and threat behind in Real’s front four was Athenea, and she was stuck on the left wing. Real’s left side was less effective in combining out of pressure, so only once was Carmona able to overlap Athenea and let the winger inside. Otherwise, PSG were happy to have their centre-backs and left-back deal with Esther/Zornoza/Weir between, with confidence in Lawrence’s athleticism and 1-v-1 defensive ability to keep Athenea under control.

Real lacked combinative potential through the centre, too, mainly due to the lack of support runs from Toletti and Olofsson. The latter is not really a runner, more a defensive midfielder, while the former just didn’t get into the game. Without these support runs, there is nobody for Esther and Zornoza to lay off to. When they came short they could get on the ball, and Esther did a good job of retaining under pressure and getting half-turned to spread play or pass forwards, but everything relied on her individual capacity to keep the ball and make something happen.

In the end…

The major takeaways from this game for both teams are as follows…

• Real Madrid must find a way to get pressure on Geyoro when she drops into the right-back spot, to eliminate their rotation on that side and prevent Lawrence from creating a 2-v-1 with Diani on Carmona.
• Paris Saint-Germain must be careful about releasing Lawrence early, without establishing possession first. Real will almost certainly learn from this game and move to counter PSG’s rotation on that side, then exploit the space Lawrence leaves (Athenea).
• Real must offer more dynamism through the middle: support runs from the central midfielders and more varied movement from the front two. This will help them combine more effectively and play out of PSG’s midfield man-marking, and possibly open up more direct routes into the space their centre-backs leave behind.