The press was enthusiastic and unanimous. “The match of the century”, “Total football”, “Fireworks”, “A historic match”, “An ode to attacking football”, “Pure footballing art”… These were some of the headlines that greeted the incredible meeting between PSG and Bayern Munich, ending with a score of 5-4 in favor of the Parisians after a totally irrational scenario.
The first actors also enjoyed the show. “All football lovers must have loved it. For us, on the pitch, it was a real pleasure to play, Marquinhos told Canal+. These are matches that we dream about throughout our childhood. They opened the score, we equalized, we extended the score, they came back… These are two teams who have the mentality of never giving up, always pressing, always moving forward. »
“All the supporters had a great time. It was an extraordinary match, with lots of chances. Both teams offered the same game »added Lucas Hernandez while Vitinha confided having disputed “the best match of his life”.
Football is also about defending
However, some observers were upset at the end of the meeting. “If I were a PSG supporter, I would be extremely disappointed because when you lead 5-2, to concede two goals like the ones you concede… 5-4, it seems exceptional, but no. It’s 1-0, in fact, PSG’s accounting lead, and we know that in the return match, there will also be a lot of goals. said Fred Hermel to begin with.
“Football is a goalkeeper, a defense, a midfielder and an attack. There, we only had the right to one attack, from each side. There are three quarters (of the players) who did not exist. Seeing Manuel Neuer, who is surely the best goalkeeper in history, concede five goals like that, it’s not normal, he continued, adding: “In my column for the AS newspaper, I wrote that it is a symbol of the TikTok era, that is to say that you need emotions, stimuli, immediately, rapid and repeated. So there are 9 goals. For me, football is also the construction of the game, the tactics. Who can say that there was a coach yesterday, both for PSG and Bayern? There were zero tactics. »
And the great Spanish football specialist was not the only one to express reservations. “From a purely spectacular point of view, yes, it’s great (to see a 5-4). But there was a time when defense was also an art, which was appreciated. And it must be an integral part of the game. (…) Name me a single sport that can be won without a defense worthy of the name? I don’t believe it exists.”he analyzed.
“Arsenal probably have less volume. And Arsenal have a harder time scoring goals than both of these teams. But she only needs one, because she knows how to defend a goalless score. This can make the difference, he also said. Clean sheets have always been sacred to goalkeepers. We saw Arsenal make the difference this year by going through matches without conceding a goal until the end. »
