Paris Saint-Germain boss Christophe Galtier was impressed by how his team played while utilising three central midfielders in their 3-0 victory against Ajaccio on Friday.
In the match, Galtier started Renato Sanches, Marco Verratti and Fabian Ruiz as the three midfielders in a 4-3-3 setup, after spending much of the season playing a 3-4-3 with two central midfielders.
The breakthrough came in the 24th minute when Lionel Messi assisted Kylian Mbappe for the opener, and that score would hold until Messi got on the end of a spectacular team move in the 78th minute, where Mbappe would return the favour with an assist for the second goal.
Mbappe then finished things off in the 82nd, again off an assist from Messi, and their chemistry drew praise from Galtier in his interview with PSGTV.
“We scored another two magnificent goals [in the second half],” he said. “Of course, the move from Leo [to] Kylian, [back to] Leo is an extraordinary goal on this difficult pitch, but it’s also the third goal.
“The link-up between Leo and Kylian really worked well – it’s very good for the team and it’s very good for them. They are players that need to score and that’s very good for them.
“It also allowed me to make changes to give certain players a break, and I liked the way that our midfield played too.”
FULL-TIME: Ajaccio 0-3 Paris Saint-Germain!
@KMbappe
Leo Messi#ALLEZPARIS pic.twitter.com/LKOx7oHVtP— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) October 21, 2022
He expanded on his thoughts about his midfield trio in his post-match interview with Prime Video, calling it an “interesting” look, and shining a light on the brilliance of Messi.
“[Playing with three central midfielders] appealed to me more, it was interesting,” he said. “We’ll see if we start like that on Tuesday [against Maccabi Haifa, in the Champions League].
“With three midfielders, it allows us to be more present, in the heart of the game and to be present on our attacks.
“Messi? He’s a genius in that regard. It was good with Kylian, it’s not for nothing that we have a quality offensive sector.
“We changed our organisation to better find them, better connected. There was a connection with Leo and Kylian.”
