Enrique's Paris Saint-Germain had a shocking performance in the final minutes away from home to Borussia Dortmund. In a 1-1 situation, they could still qualify as group winners if they managed to score one goal, however, the collective psychology of the Parisian players seemed to be hoping that the six minutes of stoppage time would pass as soon as possible – and when they could launch a vertical attack, they opted to pass back, fearing that any loss of possession would lead to a counter-attack. PSG are so content to finish second in the group, cautiously seeking a draw like a Champions League newcomer from a third-rate league.
If Enrique coached Paris to play in the Champions League in his first season, there were many situations in the group stage, including the direct consequences of Enrique's own tactical work, this game against Dortmund shows that Enrique's Paris obviously has a lot of fear and fear in mentality, which is completely contradictory to the value, salary level, and star flavor of the entire team.
There is no doubt that Paris will have to fight for qualification away from Borussia Dortmund in the final round of the group stage, and the root cause is that there have been too many delays in the past. Especially on the two away games of Newcastle and AC Milan, Paris lost both games, and the last away game is actually the most difficult one to deal with, as Borussia Dortmund have not experienced a home defeat in the Champions League in the last six years.
At the beginning of the game, the most surprising thing about PSG was that Enrique had another trick up his sleeve. He removed Uruguayan Ugarte, who was particularly important for midfield defence, and used South Korea's Lee Gang-in, Portuguese Vitinha and French teenager Zaire Emery in midfield. Who of these three is the main defender and interceptor?Vitinha, a skinny Portuguese, worked hard in the game but proved to be really tough defensively because the German players were very fast and physical.
Up front, Muani replaced Dembele as the main attacker, with Barcola on the left and Mbappe playing as a central striker. Paris had a number of chances in the opening game, and they should have opened the scoring when Lee Gang-in received a pass from Muani when he was unguarded in front of goal, but he missed the bottom line. After that, Mbappe's shot was blocked and Balcola hit the post. However, despite having already qualified from the group, Dortmund, a team that struggled in the Bundesliga and could not finish in the top four, caused plenty of problems for Paris' delicate midfielders with their excellent physical ability, with Adeyemi and Ozcan both scoring in the first half.
In the second half, Paris were intent on picking up the attack, but Achraf innocently conceded on the edge of the box and Phil Krueger calmly set up Adeyemi, who gave Borussia Dortmund the lead. At this point, PSG are on the verge of elimination, and if they lose to Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle beat AC Milan at the same time, Paris will be eliminated because of their worse results in each other.
At the crucial moment, it was the calm and composure of teenager Zaire Emery who helped his team equalise, and he seized a rare opportunity to get off the ground and fired a powerful shot that left Dortmund goalkeeper Kerber helpless. With this valuable goal, he became the youngest Frenchman to score in the Champions League at the age of 17 years and 280 days, breaking the record set by Karim Benzema (17 years, 352 days) in Lyon in December 2005 and younger than team-mate Kylian Mbappe who scored his first Champions League goal (18 years and 352 days).
As the clock ticked, PSG's attacking intensity declined. Mbappe took a counter-attacking opportunity to score, but it was ruled offside. Ironically, Enrique's side, who have always been labelled on possession, are timid at this stage and don't always control the ball, which has led to Dortmund having chances to make an impact every time they get on the ball. Enrique brought on the best defensive midfielder Ugarte in this situation and watched him and his team-mates spend the rest of the game.