Vincent Kompany gave a refreshing take when addressing his side’s defending after Bayern fell to a 5–4 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final tie at the Parc des Princes.
Kompany was forced to watch from the stands after accumulating three yellow cards, but was no doubt thoroughly entertained by both Bayern and PSG’s relentless attacking play.
Despite losing the match, the Belgian will likely be pleased with his side’s result, with the Germans trailing 5–2 at one point before Dayot Upamecano and Luis Díaz dragged the six-time winners back into the tie ahead of next Wednesday’s second leg in Munich.
After the game, PSG head coach Luis Enrique described the clash as the “best match” he’d ever coached.
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“It had amazing rhythm, trying to play offensive football, trying to show their quality,” the Spaniard explained. “I think everybody had fun watching the match. I’m happy because we won.”
Most fans and viewers shared a similar view to the PSG boss – apart from Arsenal-supporting British journalist Piers Morgan.
Kompany addresses Bayern defensive woes
Speaking after the match, Kompany, a world-class centre-back during his own playing career, was asked about defensive quality – or lack of it – and he offered a refreshing response.
“What do you want? I think you’ve seen a lot of good, intense defending today, it’s just the margins are so, so small, and you only have two ways,” he told Amazon Prime.
“The first one is to go full [attack], or the second one is to retreat fully. The in-between doesn’t work against [PSG’s] level of player, and it doesn’t work against our level of player.”
When further pressed on his approach for next week’s second leg, he added: “More. Even more.
“We’re at home. We’ll have 75,000 people in that stadium. The city will live it for an entire week.
“We don’t just want noise – we want a mass in the stadium, that weight to be there, and we need it. Then it’s a place where anything can happen. It’s not a ground that is shy of successful moments for this team.
“It’s one thing to look at the goals conceded – normally, concede five goals in a Champions League semi-final, away from home, you’re out – but if you look at the chances we created, we could have scored more,” he said.
“If you’ve got nothing in the game, it’s hard to make a case to say you could turn it around, but if you’re as dangerous as we were during this game, then I feel like it’s just about getting your head back in the game and trying to put the chances away.”
Bayern, who have already been crowned Bundesliga champions, return to action against Heidenheim on May 2.
Topics: Vincent Kompany, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Champions League, Football, Luis Enrique
Luke Davies