Did you watch Paris Saint-Germain vs. Bayern Munich on Tuesday? That sure was something! The first match of the UEFA Champions League semifinals showed us an even more open, optimistic and impossibly skilled version of the sport than what we saw when Bayern defeated Real Madrid 4-3 in a wild quarterfinal second leg.
On Tuesday in Paris, misplaced passes were rare, and the attacking intent was obvious. PSG scored five goals in 34 minutes, but has to head to Munich next week with nothing settled as Bayern scored four of their own. Unbelievable stuff.
But what broader conclusions can we draw from the Champions League this week?
Indeed. It appears that in the biggest matches of the season, Bayern manager Vincent Kompany has openly decided that his team's best chance of a win comes from attacking to an almost irresponsible degree and hoping that his defenders, especially Dayot Upamecano, can win enough individual duels and snuff out enough potential counterattacks to give them the edge.
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On paper, the risk paid off. Bayern won 68% of all ground duels (58 to 27), generated 63% more xG (3.06 to 1.9), completed nearly twice as many progressive passes (62 to 33) and generated more than twice as many touches in both the attacking third (198 to 92) and the box (52 to 20). Yes, these numbers were partially driven by game state -- you tilt the pitch better when you're behind because your opponent is more likely to give you more of the ball -- but they had the better ball progression numbers throughout the contest.