HOW DO YOU PLAY AGAINST A ROCKET-FUELLED TEAM?
Now the Saturday night storm has subsided, what can we say about Paris Saint-Germain's thunderous 5-0 victory over Inter in the Champions League final.
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| PSG smashed Inter to win their first Champions League |
Was it the greatest of them all? Well we should not rush in with the superlatives, or stride arrogantly across the minefield of comparing different eras. Also, were Inter, who had lost to Bayer Leverkusen earlier in the competition and shipped six goals across their semi-final's two legs, the toughest of opponents? Their formation, marking and tactics on the night in Munich would suggest otherwise.
All we can say for sure is that PSG now hold the record for the biggest margin of victory in a European Cup final, beating Real Madrid's 7-3 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in 1960, Bayern Munich's 4-0 over Atletico Madrid in 1974 and Milan's 4-0 wins over Steaua Bucharest in 1989 and over Barcelona five years later.
It is also fair to say this final saw the apex of the gegenpressing game which has come to dominate elite football in recent years. Inter gamely tried to play out from the back Guardiola-style but found their defence harried so energetically by PSG's forwards, particularly Ousmane Dembele, that they lost possession repeatedly.
When PSG did win the ball further back, their counter-attacking game, which has been evident throughout the campaign, was so quick and slick that Inter were only the latest team to be undone on the break by the ruthless Parisians.
PSG played at a superhuman speed but kept the ball glued to their feet. When Inter tried to up their pace to match them, they ended up spraying passes astray. PSG's counter-attacking was a well-honed, well-oiled, high-octane machine firing on all cylinders.
The best team certainly won the biggest prize in European football this year so there can be no complaints. As with Red Star Belgrade's dazzling ride en route to the final in 1991, which they won on penalties after a catenaccio display, PSG also stood out as a first-time winner who had thrilled the continent during their cup run, creating unlikely heroes in the form of French youngsters Desire Doue and Bradley Barcola and Georgian winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Whether PSG will go on to be a serial winner and become one of Europe's greats is up for debate. With the Qatari petrodollars paying off and the notable prominence of their owner after the final, there is every indication they will keep their crown, although the relative weakness of the French league could hurt.
Where this leaves football tactics is the bigger question. On their route to the trophy, PSG rotated positions nicely in a nod to total football but their closing down and counter-punches were performed to the max, leaving Inter, who were no slouches, a very distant second. It should be noted for posterity that PSG improved across the course of their campaign, and registered defeats along the way to Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Aston Villa, Bayern Munich and Liverpool. So super yes, but superhuman? No.
But it was clear by the knockout stages that Luis Enrique had distilled an exceptional playing style in his galactico-free proteges and that PSG could race upfield at lightning speed and strike. They are for now, the kings of transitions.
And when the press becomes so hard the opposition cannot safely play out from the back anymore then it feels like a historical milepost in the game has been reached. The predominant playing style that began with Johann Cruyff and the Dutch in the 1970s and bore ripest fruit in Pep Guardiola's fantastic Barcelona team has now been outcompeted by ultra-harrying and electric counter-attacking.
Will sides reply to PSG's win by learning to pass out more rapidly, while still playing to feet, or by letting the goalkeeper launch it long as in days of yore, where maintaining possession becomes a lottery once again. As with tiki-taka, it may take a while for the opposition to learn to unpick the lock, but evolution is a constant so the style will be surpassed eventually.
If PSG's success means the definitive death of the 'regista' - the midfield orchestrator like Christian Eriksen, Bruno Fernandes or Luka Modric - because they do not have the legs to chase the ball down for 90 minutes, then that is a sad evolution.
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| Ousmane Dembele was devastating in his pressing for PSG |
Playmaking brains have graced the game over the years with their artistry and it would be tragic if creative hubs like Xabi Alonso and Andrea Pirlo were in fact part of a dying breed, picked off in 2025 by the ferocity of the pressing game as perfected by Enrique's PSG.
It may well be the end of an era.
(C) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile