PSG's amazing kick-off tactics
What Luis Enrique values at Paris Saint-Germain is already evident at kickoff. What's behind the routine of deliberately giving the ball away?
Go ahead! Vitinha deliberately "gifts" Liverpool a throw-in in the round of 16 second leg. DAZN
With a pass completion rate of 93.8 percent, Vitinha is one of the best passers this Champions League season. Among Paris Saint-Germain's regulars, only Marquinhos is ahead of him at 94.7 percent, but the captain and defensive leader also has a decisive advantage: He has nothing to do with his team's pass-offs.
These are a curious chapter in themselves for the French champions. PSG, under coach Luis Enrique, regularly gives the ball away seconds after kickoff, and the pattern is always the same: An attacker plays the ball from the kickoff point to Vitinha, and the Portuguese, who is usually so accurate with his passing, blasts the ball high into touch – the closer to the opponent's corner flag, the better.
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Aside from the one-sided play-off clash with Stade Brest (3-0/7-0), this routine has been evident in all knockout rounds of this Champions League season, most recently in the return matches against Arsenal (2-1) and Aston Villa (2-3), and even twice in the high-profile round of 16 against Liverpool (0-1/4-1 on penalties). What's striking is that PSG seems to prefer this form of kickoff at the start of the game or after the restart rather than after conceding goals.
What makes an opponent’s throw-in attractiveBut what's behind it? In Paris, Luis Enrique combines his possession-based football, known from Barcelona, with high pressing. "With this, PSG wears down their opponents, barely letting them out of their own half," Monaco professional Thilo Kehrer analyzed in kicker on Monday. And the calculated loss of possession after kickoff fits perfectly with this plan.
The entire team can immediately push forward and occupy the opponent's half, while the opponent is immediately under pressure. After all, every team is significantly more limited with a throw-in than with other set pieces. In addition to the numerical disadvantage on the pitch – the throw-in player is tied up – a throw-in has disadvantages in terms of speed and range, making it much easier to defend. The logic from PSG's perspective: The chance of creating a goal-scoring opportunity is greater with a win in the opponent's half than with a "normal" kick-off.
Although there are an average of around 50 throw-ins per game, throw-ins in top-flight football seem to be only slowly gaining attention among coaches and are still underestimated – both offensively and defensively. Before Liverpool FC hired throw-in coach Thomas Grönnemark in 2018, Jürgen Klopp's team had only around 45 percent possession after throw-ins under pressure . PSG also appears to be speculating on similar negligence.
Now, the prospective treble winner is neither the first club in world football to resort to this astonishing tactic, nor does it consistently lead to success, i.e., a promising chance of winning the ball. Nevertheless, there has probably never been a team in Champions League history that has pursued this idea so regularly and consistently that it might even be said in the final against Inter Milan on Saturday (9 p.m., LIVE! on kicker): "Go ahead and do it!" Vitinha won't be the one to stop it this time either.
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