It’s official: Paris Saint-Germain definitely can’t do it away this season in the Champions League. After being badly hit on the pitch of St James Park against Newcastle (4-1) a few weeks ago, the Parisians fell once again this Tuesday evening, far from the Parc des Princes, on the pitch of San Siro in Italy against AC Milan (2-1), which they had nevertheless mastered in France (3-0) with solid domination and complete control. For this 4th day, Luis Enrique’s players were unable to respond to the powerful and aggressive play of the Rossoneri and the intense pressing installed on the middle block. In the viewfinder, Manuel Ugarte represents the symbol of a team and a collective which has never been able to show itself coherently over the long Tuesday evening, suffering in the midfield. The enthusiasm of Zaire-Emery and the versatility of Vitinha do not seem to have been invited to Lombardy.
“We had a difficult match with the atmosphere and everything. But we must do better. We didn’t manage to play our game, we got into Milan’s game. This did not allow us to have control. We want to control the match in the second half. The goal changed everything. Our idea of playing must remain the same but it’s hard to find the spaces and have the patience for the second goal. It’s still hot, it’s hard to have a precise opinion but it’s sad”analyzed the best Portuguese, Vitinha after the meeting at the microphone of Canal+, author of a more than average performance. The young Warren Zaire-Emery had more difficulties last night, even if he did not make any glaring errors. But the Uruguayan, Manuel Ugarte is unanimously the one who failed on Tuesday evening with a large number of faults, unable to follow the Milanese offensive attacks. And as is often the case, PSG does not go away in the Champions League, and even less so without the activity of its midfielder. Like the Magpies, the Rossoneri were more efficient in the duels, more generous in the effort and more focused on the end.
Paris travels badly
Indeed, usually one of the Parisian forces this season and author of a surprising start to the campaign, the Parisian bloc was completely overwhelmed by events this Tuesday evening. An observation also shared by defender Marquinhos a few minutes after the final whistle: “we pushed to come back without success. Milan then moved further behind, we had less space than at the start of the match. They defended well and knew what to do to block us. It was important to come here and win. We must not give up, qualify and manage things that we can improve externally”he then explained to the microphone of Canal+. And if the Parisian attacking trio had a hard time being effective, it is also because the middle trident did not know how to fulfill its role as a glue to restart quickly and cleanly.
In the crosshairs, the Uruguayan midfielder, Manuel Ugarte who seemed, for one of the rare times this season, lost in the midfield and above all lacking intensity, aggressiveness and energy against the hungry troops by Stefano Pioli, like thirteen duels lost out of sixteen in total. What prevented PSG from regaining control and the rhythm of the meeting: “We scored first but after that we couldn’t control the match. It was really tight. The battle in the middle? They played a great match against each other, they have a great team, physically and technically. They managed to use their spaces in attack. We lost control of the match several times, but we still had chances.”, Luis Enrique wanted to clarify at a press conference at San Siro. In any case, Paris Saint-Germain must quickly get their heads back on track and that’s a good thing, the next meeting will be played at home against Newcastle who crushed Paris at St James Park.
