In the Zone: Dortmund 1-1 Paris performance analysis

Paris Saint-Germain's progress to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League was not straightforward, secured only with Wednesday night's draw at Borussia Dortmund.

In this article brought to you by FedEx, UEFA's Technical Observer panel analyse several features of an exciting Group F contest: Paris forward Kylian Mbappé's threat in a central role, Dortmund's ploy of flooding the central channels with attackers, and the question of risk vs reward regarding the hosts' pressing game.

Team formations

Features

Mbappé's central positioning

The first video highlights the menace that Mbappé brought when attacking from a central position. As the UEFA match observer said: "His influence in the first half was in creating quick attacks. He found the space to drop into and execute the pass."

The first three clips show Mbappé create opportunities for team-mates starting with Clip 1, when he tees up Bradley Barcola to shoot against a post. The heat map of Mbappé's on-the-ball actions helps to illustrate his work centrally in the middle part of the pitch as well as on the left when approaching or inside the Dortmund penalty box.

Clips 2 and 3 show Mbappé thread passes through to team-mates and, to underline his role as provider, he ended the game with four key passes to his name – a total bettered this week only by Salzburg's Luka Sučić (five). "He created opportunities for others as well as being a threat himself," added the observer.

In the final clip, we see Mbappé get in himself only to be denied by a magnificent goal-line clearance by Niklas Süle – "world-class defending" in the words of Edin Terzić, the home coach.

As these near misses highlight, Paris had plenty of chances in a match where they recorded an xG of 2.86 compared with Dortmund's 1.38. That said, from 18 shots they ended with only six on target – the same total as the home side managed from ten shots. This was in keeping with their efforts across a group stage where their goal total (nine) was less than their xG (13.63).

Dortmund's positional play

For the match observer, Dortmund's positional play was also worthy of note. "They went from a 4-2-3-1 off the ball to a 4-2-2-2 with the full-backs getting into high positions very early as they accumulated seven players in the final third."

Clip 1 highlights their expansive approach as the full-backs push high up the pitch and Dortmund go 3v2 at the back while overloading the central area of the pitch with seven players. They find a way upfield thanks to Süle driving into the space vacated by his right-back, Marius Wolf, and this leads to an early attempt on goal.

Clip 2 and 3 offer other examples of this strategy of "freeing lots of players centrally in the final third", to quote the observer. Indeed in Clip 3 the action stops to show six players concentrated in a central space ahead of the man on the ball and this overload enables the passing interchange that follows between Wolf – a full-back, remember – and Niclas Füllkrug before the former shoots wide.

Risk vs reward

This is a recurring theme in football and it arose again on Wednesday night, prompted by Dortmund's pressing in the final third. As the observer said: "Dortmund's high press was risk vs reward. They won the ball for their goal but it also meant a few opportunities for Paris when they broke the high press."

As the first clip above shows, Dortmund went man on man at the back – a 3v3 scenario – as they committed numbers forward with the experienced Marco Reus orchestrating his younger team-mates. This aggressive approach carries an inherent risk, as seen in Clip 2 as Barcola is able to get free of Süle.

Clip 3 offers another example of Luis Enrique's side getting beyond the press – something they did more often in the second half. We see Dortmund once again with seven players in the final third and just three men back, and eventually it takes a foul to halt the visitors' advance.

If that was the risk, the final clip highlights the reward as we see how Dortmund's intense pressing foils Marquinhos and Achraf Hakimi's attempt to play out down the right – and leads to Karim Adeyemi's breakthrough goal.

Coaches' and players' assessments

Edin Terzić, Dortmund coach: "We played a very good game today and are satisfied because we won this difficult group. Of course, you can't play against a team like Paris without the opponents getting chances."

Marco Reus, Dortmund midfielder: "We found space well, rotated, pulled opponents away and we occasionally showed good combination football into the final third. However, there was a bit of a lack of precision when it came to scoring. There were too many ball losses in midfield and Paris launched dangerous counterattacks."

Luis Enrique, Paris coach: "We are a team who score a lot of goals. We've showed that in our league we are a team who are entertaining to watch. We go to every ground to play on the attack and try to score goals. We had four or five clear very chances, and they also had their chances."

Marquinhos, Paris captain: "Our philosophy is to have the ball, to press high and to go after our opponents. Obviously that means we take risks defensively."