Crowned French champion at Bollaert despite a generally controlled performance in management, Paris Saint-Germain still saw several individuals go through the meeting with much more difficulty. Among them, Bradley Barcola clearly appeared below the pace imposed by this poster. Positioned on the right side of the Parisian attack, the French international never really managed to gain the upper hand over Matthieu Udol or create an imbalance in one-on-one situations. From the first minutes, several rough checks and quickly lost balls illustrated a complicated evening for the former Lyonnais. While Lens put a lot of intensity into the duels, Barcola seemed to lack edge and personality.
Unlike Dembélé or Kvaratskhelia, capable of keeping the ball under pressure and creating danger in small spaces, Barcola too often disappeared from the game. His ball catches rarely accelerated the Parisian offensives and he almost never weighed down in depth despite the spaces left by the Lensois in certain transitions. Luis Enrique made no mistake by taking him out during the break to bring in Vitinha and regain more control of the midfield. This quick substitution sums up his match perfectly. In this final sprint with a Champions League final now fast approaching, PSG will need a much more impactful and much fairer Barcola.
Substituted at half-time
Aligned from the start in an extremely ambitious attack with Désiré Doué, Ousmane Dembélé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Bradley Barcola had an ideal opportunity to score points before the Champions League final. Luis Enrique had chosen to launch his four offensive arrows together in a context that was nevertheless hostile to Bollaert, but the former Lyonnais completely missed his appointment. Very rarely found in good conditions, incapable of making individual differences and above all extremely discreet in the Parisian possession sequences, Barcola never managed to enter his meeting. His statistics perfectly reflect his erasure with only 24 balls touched, no successful dribble and seven ball losses. Even his rare accelerations lacked edge in a match where PSG needed to emerge quickly under the Lensois pressure. The contrast with his offensive partners was evident throughout the first period.
While DembĂ©lĂ© created gaps, Kvaratskhelia demonstrated his efficiency and DouĂ© increased his initiatives, Barcola seemed to be playing out of time. Too technically imprecise, uninspired in his movements and incapable of influencing depth, he gradually disappeared from the debates until his exit at the break in favor of Vitinha. A strong change from Luis Enrique which clearly illustrates the disappointment caused by his performance. “I can’t say anything. No important information for you, think what you want. I don’t explain anything but it’s very clear.the Spanish coach responded coldly at a press conference, when he was questioned about the reasons for this tactical change at the break. A few days before the European final, this performance is necessarily striking. In an offensive hierarchy that has become extremely dense at PSG, even though Ibrahim Mbaye managed to score quickly after his entry, Barcola is going through a much more complicated period and will have to quickly regain impact so as not to see its status weakened in the most important meeting of the season.
