A tricky move for PSG, who nevertheless had no room for error this evening in Bavaria. Already in difficulty before its defeat in added time against Atlético (2-1), the capital club was playing part of its future in the Champions League on the occasion of this 5th day. A dizziness of the void that Luis Enrique tried to fill in his starting eleven with the unexpected tenure of Safonov in place of Donnarumma. the Spanish coach even changed his starting system by aligning Zaire-Emery, Vitinha, Neves and Ruiz in the middle line of 4, to leave the offensive animation to Dembélé and Barcola up front.
Obviously, the Russian’s performance was going to be scrutinized. He was already called upon after 5 minutes of play on this returning corner from Kimmich, and especially on this first shot from Musiala (7th). PSG was prepared to suffer and they did well. The Munich collective, better established, occupied the space and controlled the debates, despite some flashes against Dembélé (8th, 20th). Safonov still held the house on a new attempt by Sané (12th). If Coman was hurting on his right side (28th), PSG was starting to turn things around, showing itself to be dangerous in turn. Zaire-Emery even missed a very good opportunity (29th) and Joao Neves shot it from 20 meters (32nd).
Safonov and Dembélé ruin PSG’s evening
It was paradoxically during this great time in the Paris region that the Germans opened the scoring. Slightly hampered by Musiala, Safonov missed his exit from a corner and pushed the ball back onto the head of Kim, who just had to push deep (1-0, 38th). A difficult blow for the capital club to absorb, like the opportunities from Coman (41st) and Sané (45th+3). Half-time came at just the right time for Luis Enrique’s men, not out of the game but in serious difficulty in terms of the real-time standings. They came back in the second half with the intention of playing, of pressing but a new fact of the match intervened, the second yellow of Dembélé (56th), not necessarily deserved but so avoidable.
Ten against eleven in Munich, getting back on the scoreboard was an even more complicated mission. However, PSG did not give up and even resisted the opposing opposition well. There were certainly players missing in the area but the Parisians managed to win balls and project themselves into the Bavarian half of the field. And then Bayern failed to widen the gap despite opportunities (66th, 73rd, 82nd). Safonov even made a decisive save on Musiala’s shot deflected off the post (74th), offering a reprieve. The entrants Lee, Ramos, first match since August, and Asensio failed to take advantage despite lukewarm situations and PSG lost for the 3rd time in this C1 and plunged to 26th place.
