Like FC Bayern, Paris Saint-Germain go into the Champions League second leg with a slight setback – coach Luis Enrique deliberately opted to rotate and rest his top stars in the 2-2 draw against Lorient.
Like FC Bayern against 1. FC Heidenheim, Paris Saint-Germain were held to a draw in Ligue 1 and surprisingly dropped points against Lorient. However, the focus was less on the result and more on the approach: PSG fielded a much-changed team and rested large parts of the likely starting eleven for the clash in Munich.
While the German record champions had almost all of their top stars on the pitch for at least one half, PSG coach Luis Enrique rested almost all of his top stars, with numerous key players such as Safonov, Marquinhos, Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, Dembélé and Kvaratskhelia not even making an appearance.
Other regulars were only used in doses: Zaïre-Emery and João Neves played 30 minutes each, Fabian Ruiz 60 minutes and Doué 75 minutes. From the starting line-up in the Champions League first leg against FC Bayern, only Pacho played the entire match.
Focus on the Champions League
That clearly underlines the fact that PSG focused fully on the second leg against FC Bayern and deliberately spared their strength. Coach Luis Enrique obviously accepted the draw in order to send his most important players fresh for the decisive second leg on Wednesday.
The result is an exciting starting position for the second leg: PSG are likely to be physically fresher, while Bayern will be relying on home advantage and the power of the Allianz Arena. However, one thing is clear: the 2-2 draw against Lorient was less of a warning signal for the French side – but rather a deliberately planned intermediate step on the way to the big showdown in Munich.