Valencia 1- 2 PSG: Ancelotti’s men ooze quality, Valverde’s shape change controls the damage

The Champions League Round of 16 got off to a cracking start at the Mestalla where PSG picked up a valuable win, importantly with 2 away goals. Lavezzi and Pastore got the French League leaders to a flying start in the first half, but key half time substitutions and change of shape by Ernesto Valverde allowed the home team to dominate the second half and nick back a late goal.

Carlo Ancelotti was without captain Thiago Silva and Thiago Mota due to injury. David Beckham was only fit enough for the director’s box. Ibra and Lavezzi started upfront with Lucas Moura coming in on the right with Pastore on the left. The midfield of the 4-4-2 was completed by Matuidi and the emerging star Verratti. Alex and Sakho were accompanied by Jallet and Maxwell in defence.

Valverde did not have many injury worries but the overall quality of the Valencia squad was miles behind their cash laden opposition. Roberto Soldado started as the lone striker with Feghouli and Jonas cutting in from either wing. The 4-2-3-1 had the midfield trio of Banega, Tino Costa and Parejo, with Banega slotted in just behind Soldado. The left back spot was the only worry as 3^rd choice Guardado had to play out of position.

PSG’s attacks: Ibra deep, Pastore diagonal

The midfield imbalance was quite evident from the start. On paper, Valencia’s trio would have easily out-passed and outrun their opposition’s 2 in the centre. Though this was the way the match started for the first 10 minutes, Ancelotti’s tactic of playing Javier Pastore on the left finally worked out.

Earlier in the competition, PSG were criticized for not having any width as Pastore was played in the No.10 role. But now Carlo Ancelotti was able to fit in new signing Lucas on the right with the impressive Pastore drifting in from the left.

Pastore started the game pretty much in his own half, tracking back with the energetic João Pereira. Pastore’s wide positioning was here helpful in providing cover for Maxwell. But it was Pastore’s attacking intent that changed the game.

Here Ibra’s positioning became important. Zlatan fell back into very deep left-midfield positions to hold the ball against Parejo and this allowed Pastore to make diagonal runs from the left across to the right. Ibra’s deep movement also allowed a similar movement by Lavezzi, who now found Pastore on his wing to link up with. Unsurprisingly, Pastore and Lavezzi were found on the right flank at the time of both the goals.

So Ibra though did not have a huge impact in front of goal, but was able to pull out Parejo which left Lavezzi and Pastore to run at the defence. Interestingly, PSG used a similar tactic as Real Madrid had, in attacking the left side of Valencia’s defence. Lucas Moura also put in an energetic shift down this flank, tracking Guardado throughout.

Valencia’s disjointed attack, Verratti superb against Banega

Valencia boasted a very fluid midfield, with the trio of Banega, Jonas and Tino Costa combining well in the initial period. But the presence of Verratti completed negated Banega’s presence. The young Italian kept the Argentinian Banega in check and rarely allowed him to slip passes into Soldado.

Jonas, who played much of his time under Emery at Centre Forward, is nowadays used as a cut-in winger. Tonight, he posed absolutely no threat to Jallet at right back for PSG. Jonas’s linkup with Soldado was non- existent and he was rightfully subbed at half time.

Valencia’s only bright spark was in the form of Feghouli on the other wing. The pacy striker caused the ageing Maxwell all types of problems, as he kept cutting in from the right to feed either Soldado or Banega.

Crucial changes at the break, Valencia try to ape PSG

Valverde rightly changed his entire attacking formation at the break. Banega and Jonas were removed for Nelson Valdes and Canales. Valdes moved into the front 2 of the 4-4-2 with Canales on the left. If anything was lacking in Valencia’s attack in the first half, it was pace in the attacking 3^rd. Soldado was not able to utilize the lack of mobility in the Alex-Sakho partnership.

The entry of Nelson Valdez brought in that missing pace and now Valencia looked much brighter. But the real star of the 2^nd half was Sergio Canales. The former Madrid youth product brought in the creativity and spark that lacked in Jonas’ position. He was able to spread the game from flank to flank and this stretched out PSG’s 2 men midfield.

Ancelotti correctly identified the need for a quick change and straight away removed Moura for a midfield player Chantome. Chantome was brought in to close down the space available to Canales, and he succeeded to a certain extent. But now with Verratti busy with Nelson Valdez, Tino Costa was finding plenty of space in front of Matuidi to play in his typically brilliant balls.

Valencia now played a system quite similar to PSG’s in the first half, with Canales duplicating Pastore’s performance to some extent. The major difference in both the 4-4-2 system that turned out to be reason why Valencia could not score more was that Valencia’s front 2, unlike PSG’s, were directly attacking Alex and Sakho rather than one falling back like Ibra to link up with the midfield.

So Valencia’s only threat was coming from set-pieces which Verratti and Matuidi were giving away all across the park. Rami tapped in one such Tino Costa delivery, and apart from Ibra being sent off late in the game, nothing much upped the tempo of the crowd.

Top of the match: Javier Pastore

Flop of the match: Jonas