It’s a number that doesn’t guarantee you losing a football game, but it says a lot about the habits and behavior of a team. Beaten (2-0) Wednesday evening in the knockout stages of the Champions League by Bayern Munich, PSG ran less than the Munich residents. UEFA statistics indicate that Lionel Messi and his partners have swallowed 113.1 km on the lawn of the Allianz Arena against 122 for the Bavarians.
A gap of nine kilometers similar to that seen in the first leg three weeks ago. At the Parc des Princes, Parisians grouped in defense before the entry of Kylian Mbappé had run 110.4 km where the Germans had run more with 118.3 km.
One of the teams that run the least in Ligue 1
And yet, PSG were well above their usual standards against Bayern. In the Champions League, Paris has run an average of 108.5 km this season. In Ligue 1, the LFP had pointed out in December that the Parisians were penultimate in the ranking of the most energy-consuming formations on the lawn, with only Montpellier behind them. An investment that the Parisians seem to have paid for in the second half in Germany.
“Physically, they weren’t there at all. The midfielders were asphyxiated, they were no longer pressing and the Bavarians were able to manage quietly, estimates the former Parisian midfielder Edouard Cissé in the columns of L’Equipe. Vitinha, Ruiz and Verratti were dead, they weren’t putting in any more intensity, they had given everything in the first half. »
“You can’t change the characteristics of players like that. We have more profiles of players who ask for the ball at their feet, justified PSG coach Christophe Galtier after the defeat (0-1) in the first leg. Not to mention them, Neymar and Messi. This means that you have to find depth and verticality with Kylian or Nuno Mendes. This volume of races is nothing new. “But in March, it ends up paying off.