In the Zone: Real Sociedad 1-2 Paris performance analysis

With two superb goals from Kylian Mbappé and a strong all-round team performance, Paris Saint-Germain progressed to the last eight of the UEFA Champions League with victory at Real Sociedad on Tuesday.

In this article brought to you by FedEx, UEFA match observer Claude Makélélé, working together with UEFA's analysis unit, highlights several key elements of their display in San Sebastian, including an effective pressing game and their success in escaping La Real's press.

Team formations

Paris pressing high

"Today they were all at a very high level – very united in defence and very precise in attack," said Paris coach Luis Enrique afterwards. The unity he speaks of was more than evident in the manner they pressed their hosts high up the pitch.

Clip one in the first video illustrates the way they pressed, going man to man right across the pitch. Each time a home player receives a pass, he has an opponent poised to put him under pressure.

The second clip presents Paris's compact shape and how they are able to then shift swiftly from a low to a high block, with Paris right-back Achraf Hakimi stepping high up the pitch to press Javi Galán, La Real's left-back. Their efforts almost pay off as Vitinha's interception brings an opportunity for Mbappé.

"We pressed them very well," said Luis Enrique, who saw his side gain their reward (clip three) as they shut off goalkeeper Alejandro Remiro's options to play short, with the ensuing turnover bringing Mbappé's opening goal.

Paris escape the press

In the words of Mikel Oyarzabal, the home team's No10, "our identity is to press high" – but this was not easy against Paris. "They can get out and have a lot of space to take advantage of."

The second video illustrates how Paris got out and, as the UEFA analysis unit observed, they were able to vary their approach. Clip one shows a longer pass out to the wing by goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, while in clip two they escape the pressure with a series of short, sharp passes.

As this second sequence unfolds it is worth pointing out the position of Ousmane Dembélé, who drops into his own half to help with the build-up. "Our objective was to gain superiority in the centre," said Luis Enrique of Dembélé's deployment as a false nine. "Dembélé can play one, two touches without losing the ball."

The action ends with Warren Zaïre-Emery releasing Mbappé down the left to score his sixth goal of this European campaign. The heat map shows the Paris captain's positioning on the night and, as Luis Enrique explained, the plan was to have him "more fixed on the left wing" in order to "leave him in a good position in the final third. He is the best player in the world in the final third – when he's running at goal, he's unstoppable. He shoots with both feet and he's so fast."

According to UEFA observer Makélélé, Mbappé's pace and positioning gave the home defence a dilemma. When La Real pressed as a team, their defenders were "wary of pushing the line too high and leaving space behind". As a consequence, in the lead-up to the goal, we see the front unit press and the space behind – between them and their defenders – that Paris exploit.

As highlighted last month in a study of 1v1 defending by UEFA's technical observers, defenders today must be brave and get tight, doing their best to keep the forward facing his own goal and not letting them turn. With a world-class player like Mbappé, though, that is easier said than done.

Visitors' defensive awareness

If the headlines on Wednesday morning were about Mbappé, another player who caught the eye of the UEFA analysis unit was Paris centre-back Lucas Beraldo. The 20-year-old was making his second appearance in the competition following his arrival from Brazilian club São Paulo in January – and this video highlights his impressive defensive awareness.

In clip one we see him scanning the scene – and not being afraid to organise senior players around him – before getting into the right positon to head away at the near post. Similarly in the second clip, he is looking at what is around him, is alert to Oyarzabal's movement and gets into the right place to cut out the cross. The technical report for last season's UEFA Champion League (see page 55) showed that almost a quarter of crosses (24%) came from inside the width of the penalty box and this was the territory from which Takefusa Kubo sought to pick out Oyarzabal, but Lucas Beraldo saw the danger.

In clip three, meanwhile, the youngster sees the threat behind and steps back to win the header. What is important here from a coaching perspective is that he does not just head the ball anywhere. Rather, he has a picture of the players around him and produces a cushioned nod-down to Fabián Ruiz.

Finally, clip four features his last-ditch intervention to foil Sheraldo Becker. The statistics back up the positive impression left by the Brazilian, who produced the most interceptions (four) of any Paris player and registered six recoveries, a tally bettered only by Vitinha (eight). There were also 14 duels (64.3% success rate) and eight aerial duels (62.5%) for a player who has hit the ground running in the Champions League.

Lessons for player development

"These analysis articles form part of a strategy of translating findings from our senior club and national team competitions into actionable insights for elite youth development. By looking at trends from the Champions League, men's and women's, these articles can be used as an engine for player development across the European landscape."
UEFA's head of technical education & development, Olivier Doglia