THREAD:

Paris Saint-Germain 0-1 Bayern München
— Post-Game Analysis

This thread will take the following form:

1. Box Score
2. Shot Map
3. Video Analysis
4. Statistical Analysis
5. Discussion

Box Score

Here, we can see that Bayern dominated the ball and pressed well to win it back. As a result, they not only had more possession (63.97%) but more territory (58.63%). Interestingly, they fouled much more than PSG did as a result of their press.

Teams that push players up the pitch tend to commit ‘tactical fouls’ and PSG complained about this yesterday. The issue is that these fouls often come via the counterpress so it can simply come across as a failed press as opposed to an intentional foul.

This results in teams who do this getting away with it. The biggest culprits of this are Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Liverpool though Klopp's team is not as bad as the previous two.

It is interesting to see how this develops in the coming seasons.

Shot Maps

Cup campaigns survive on clinical finishing. PSG had three chances all above 0.25 xG according to my model whilst di María's chance was fantastic too. However, they were unable to take their chances when they came. Kylian Mbappé's finishing was of particular interest.

Video Analysis

One of Mbappé's intangible strengths is his maturity and decision making. However, wisdom is something that comes with experience. Mbappé had a few chances — one big chance — but consistently resorted to not only in-step finishing but generic side-foot finishes.

Mbappé bases his finishing around the high in-step and adds a part of the forefront of his foot which is why he often finishes with both accuracy and power. However, against Bayern he relied on the low in-step only which usually occurs when a player does not want to miss.

The result is that Mbappé was unable to finish the main chance which came to him from a great cutback from Herrera as seen here:

Normally, Mbappé would have taken a further step into the ball's path and wrapped his foot around it — combination of both the high in-step and forefront — to guide it into the bottom corner. Here, he was not confident in that so opted for a more cautious finish.

In addition, Mbappé displayed another uncharacteristic element when making a run during Neymar's carry. Instead of running to Neymar's left he continued his run to the right and never changed direction which is something he is excellent at doing. Here:

Herrera's pass to Di María in that clip was fantastic and should not come as a surprise as he was always known for his technical prowess on the ball. In fact, it was his technical ability that made us want to sign him from Athletic Bilbao.

The Neymar chance was particular interesting due to Neuer's save. It is often thought that if a shot is directed between the keeper's legs and it deflects off a leg and is saved then it was ‘fortunate’. However, Neuer has done this for a decade. The save:

Moreover, Neuer did this a few times in the game let alone what he has accomplished over his career. Personally, he was my man of the match simply due to his saves + interceptions. He was vital with the long ball and when PSG chose to press, too.

Coman's goal had huge contributions by Thiago and Müller. Thiago played a brilliant line-breaking pass in behind PSG's midfield and Müller drew three players with a run and then took them all out with a first-time lay-off to Kimmich. Here:

Bayern Munich attacked down the left-hand side with Coman and it shows here. Also, when Coman dribbled past Kehrer once with relative ease, he immediately grew in confidence knowing that Kehrer did not possess the defensive quality to deal with him one-on-one.

This is an important aspect of football. There is a lot of uncertainty on the pitch as the multitude of variances interact with each other. So, once a player/team identifies certainties in the game they become more confident with their gameplan. This is what happened with Coman.

PSG were stifled by Bayern's press and it resulted in them keeping possession in their own half. Consequently, any attack was transitional and, in many cases, rushed. However, their quality was still able to carve out a few good chances.

Statistical Analysis

There are a few noteworthy statistics from the game. Firstly, PSG kept possession of the ball an average of 9.08s per possession and completed an average of 2.16 passes per possession. These two figures highlight just how dominant Bayern were.

In addition, PSG had a total of 111 possessions in the game but only entered Bayern's half 41 times — 36.94%. On the other hand, Bayern had 110 possessions in total and entered PSG's half 75 times — 68.18%. Despite that, PSG did very well to prevent clear chances against them.

Furthermore, I posted this visual before the Final and emphasised the importance of Goretzka, Thiago, Müller and Kimmich. All four of them were brilliant during the game and were, in many ways, the catalysts behind Bayern's dominant display.

Lastly, Bayern Munich covered a total distance of 103.9km compared to PSG's 99.5km — a 4.4km difference. The average player covers around 9-10km over a 90-minute period. This 4.4km difference is quite important to coaches who advocate the high press.

The high press is not only a means to regain possession but also disorientate the opposition when they have the ball. Bayern pressed PSG every 30 seconds of possession which is incredible and they ran 4.4km more which is like having half a player extra on the pitch.

Summary and Overall Thoughts

The final played out as we pretty much expected. Bayern dominated the ball and played a high line. It was upon PSG to take their chances which they didn't. Bayern eventually got the goal.

It was a well deserved victory for Hansi Flick and his team.

End of Thread.