ESPN FC’s Sid Lowe reminds us that Barcelona are poor away from home in European competition.
PARIS — The PSG players took a very long time to come out of the dressing room on Tuesday night. It is no wonder, though, that after such a fantastic 3-2 win against Barcelona, Laurent Blanc and his men wanted to spend more time together than usual to celebrate their victory.
Nasser al-Khelaifi, the club’s chairman, also took time to congratulate his players. “It is the most beautiful victory of my life and certainly since we bought the club. I am very happy and very proud. We have a great team and great players. We needed a win tonight after a difficult start of the season and we got it. Beating Barcelona the way we did, without Ibra and Thiago Silva, is fantastic.”
David Beckham, who watched the game sat next to Jay-Z and Beyoncé in the director’s box, also went down to the dressing room after the game. Becks played the last six months of his career in Paris. “He told us that he is proud of their victory,” revealed Gregory Van der Wiel.
There was another very happy man in the dressing room: Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He too congratulated everybody, high-fiving, hugging and kissing his teammates. Because of a heel injury, he was out for the game and sat in the directors box with his wife Helena.
The director’s box in Paris was host to David Beckham, who took in his former club’s win with gusto.
Here is the big paradox, though. PSG got their best win of the decade without their best player. In 10 or 20 years’ time, Paris fans will still be talking about how great Ibra was during his time at the club, but they will also say that it is without him that they saw their team produce of the best performances of its history.
It is impossible to say if the French champions would have also beaten Barcelona like they did had Ibra been on the pitch. Equally, it’s hard to say that had Ibra been on the pitch last May, they would have knocked out Chelsea in their Champions League quarterfinal.
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But what we can say — and what we saw on Tuesday night — is that without Ibra, the team still looked fantastic. Despite the Swede’s incredible influence on this squad, the other players showed that they can also deliver without him. “This victory convinced the players that they can do it without Ibra. This is what’s important as well the win itself tonight,” said Blanc after the game.
And now, the big debate of “are PSG playing better when Ibra is not playing?” has never been so relevant.
Laurent Blanc was spot on tactically, setting up the team in a 4-3-1-2 formation — another thing he couldn’t have done if Ibra had been fit. The Swede can’t play with a proper No. 10 like Pastore behind him, as he likes to drop deep a lot during any game. A few days ago, Pastore himself admitted that when he plays, he always has to adapt his positioning and his movement to what Ibra does. Without the big striker on Tuesday, Pastore was as free as a bird and had the game of his life playing between the Barcelona lines.
PSG will be boosted by this big win, albeit one that will raise the question of where and how Ibra fits in.
Ibra being Ibra, he is also very possessive with the ball and is even the first option for any teammate in possession. When he is not there, PSG’s play is more balanced, more varied and more fluid. The way Blanc’s side counter-attacked against Barça would have been very difficult to do with their talisman up front.
In the end, this debate exists because Ibra is such a genius. He can win a game by himself at any time. He has done it for PSG before and will surely do it again. They’ve played some great football with him in the team but before Tuesday night, they had never won in the Champions League when he was out (two defeats, one draw). They have now. Psychologically, this has to be seen as a massive turning point for the rest of the squad; it’s good to know they can go it alone.
Time will tell as to the consequences this victory will have on the dynamic of the squad around Ibra but in the mean time, it is a massive boost of confidence. The start of the season had been so poor in Paris — five draws in eight league games — but their season has finally begun thanks to this win.
Free from Ibrahimovic’s shadow, Javier Pastore was a revelation. Can his form continue when Zlatan returns?
“It was a massive test for us tonight. We showed we are a great team. It is a turning point for us and finally the start of our season,” said Matuidi after the game. “We showed a lot of character with a great performance. We knew we could do it. The team spirit was incredible from start to finish,” added Edinson Cavani.
Team spirit: two words that almost all the PSG players who spoke in the mixed wine used after the game. There was something different on Tuesday compared to before this season. Blanc said it himself: “We got some values that we had lost back. In those kind of games, the players are more determined and motivated. We needed a game like this one to get our values back. It was either we got back to our best or we continued to sink. There was a lot of pressure around the game but it is an incredible victory, in terms of spirit as well.”
Whether Ibra is there or not and whether Pastore and Co. play better without him or not, the team spirit and attitude shown by them on Tuesday have to remain throughout the season if PSG want to reach the stars.