Paris Saint-Germain Formation and Tactics Under Luis Enrique

Paris Saint-Germain formation — tactical board

How Paris Saint-Germain's 4-3-3 becomes a 3-2-5

Possession starts with Matvey Safonov and a back four that does not stay a back four. Achraf Hakimi leaves it almost immediately, climbing the right touchline, while Vitinha drops between Illia Zabarnyi and Willian Pacho to give the back three a spare man. Nuno Mendes stays narrower than a conventional left-back, tucking inside so Khvicha Kvaratskhelia can keep the touchline to himself. The result is a 3-2-5: three at the back, Vitinha with one of the eights ahead of them, and five players occupying the width and the two half-spaces.

The two flanks work differently. On the right the width belongs to Hakimi, which is what allows Désiré Doué to play as an inside forward rather than a winger; João Neves rotates behind and beyond them both. On the left it is inverted: Kvaratskhelia holds the touchline and takes on his full-back, so Nuno Mendes and Warren Zaïre-Emery arrive underneath him through the half-space. Ousmane Dembélé rarely stands still at centre-forward. He drops towards the midfield line, drawing a centre-back with him and giving the midfield three an extra body in the centre.

Without the ball the side folds back into a recognisable 4-3-3 block and marks man for man, with the front three closing the goalkeeper's short options and Dembélé curving his run to shut the pass he has just invited. Because the marking is individual, the first line of pressure has to hold: when it is beaten, the back four is left defending a large space with Hakimi still high on the right. Illia Zabarnyi slides across to cover that side, and Willian Pacho covers behind Nuno Mendes on the other.

The tactical units

1. Goalkeeper

   On the pitch: Matvey Safonov

   The position was shared all season. Lucas Chevalier arrived from Lille in August 2025 and started more league matches than his rival, seventeen to Matvey Safonov's fifteen, but Safonov made eleven of the Champions League starts to Chevalier's six and was the goalkeeper picked for the final. Whoever plays, the job is the same: the defensive line sits high, so the goalkeeper defends a large area behind it and is the first passing option when the press arrives.

2. Back four

   On the pitch: Nuno Mendes, Willian Pacho, Illia Zabarnyi, Achraf Hakimi

   Nominally a flat four, in practice a back three plus a right winger. Willian Pacho and Illia Zabarnyi hold the middle, and Zabarnyi slides across to cover the flank Hakimi has left. Nuno Mendes tucks inside from the left rather than overlapping, and Hakimi is gone up the right as soon as possession settles. The centre of the defence split by competition: Zabarnyi started twenty-six of the thirty-four league matches, while the captain Marquinhos started fifteen of the seventeen in the Champions League and partnered Pacho in the final.

3. Midfield three

   On the pitch: Warren Zaïre-Emery, Vitinha, João Neves

   Vitinha is the reference point: a single pivot who receives facing pressure, drops between the centre-backs when the full-backs advance, and decides when the tempo changes. Warren Zaïre-Emery works the left half-space and covers the ground in front of the back line, and he made more appearances than anyone else in the squad, fifty-four across six competitions. João Neves screens, then runs the inside channel beyond Dembélé. Fabián Ruiz started the final in Zaïre-Emery's slot, so the left of the three was never settled.

4. Front three

   On the pitch: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué

   Three dribblers with licence to swap. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia stays wide left and waits for a one-against-one; Désiré Doué starts on the right but spends the game in the half-space Hakimi has vacated; Ousmane Dembélé leads the line without occupying it, dropping off to receive between the lines. Dembélé was the club's leading scorer with twenty goals in all competitions, but he started only ten league matches: Gonçalo Ramos made forty-five appearances, mostly from the bench, and Bradley Barcola matched Kvaratskhelia's start count and led Ligue 1 scoring with eleven.

Key player relationships

Matvey Safonov → Vitinha — Builds play through

The first pass out is aimed at the pivot rather than down the line. Vitinha takes the ball facing his own goal, under pressure, and turns it forward; if he is marked, the ball goes back and the three defenders reset the angle.

Nuno Mendes → Khvicha Kvaratskhelia — Underlaps

Because Kvaratskhelia holds the touchline, the left-back's run has to go inside him. Mendes attacks the gap between full-back and centre-back, which either drags a defender out of the box or gives Kvaratskhelia the cutback option in front of it.

Nuno Mendes ↔ Warren Zaïre-Emery — Rotates with

One of the two occupies the left half-space and the other goes wide or deep, and which is which changes within a possession. It gives the left side a second runner without ever leaving the space in front of the centre-backs unoccupied.

Willian Pacho → Nuno Mendes — Covers

With Mendes inside or ahead of the ball, the left flank behind him is Pacho's responsibility. Covering that space is what lets the line sit as high as it does, and it is the insurance the man-marking scheme needs when a winger runs in behind.

Illia Zabarnyi → Achraf Hakimi — Covers

Hakimi's height up the pitch leaves the right channel empty, and the right centre-back is the one who slides across into it. The cover arrives late by design, because the alternative is not attacking with Hakimi at all.

Achraf Hakimi → Désiré Doué — Holds width for

This is the mechanism that defines the right side. Hakimi sprints high and wide to pin the opposing full-back, and the winger's job becomes an inside one: Doué receives in the half-space with the touchline already occupied behind him.

Achraf Hakimi → Ousmane Dembélé — Supplies crosses

Having taken the width, Hakimi is also the side's deliverer from it. Because Dembélé's first movement is away from goal rather than towards it, the ball is aimed at the gap that drop opens between the centre-backs, not at a striker waiting in the six-yard box.

Vitinha → Illia Zabarnyi — Drops between

The pivot's drop is what converts the back four into a back three. Vitinha slots between Zabarnyi and Pacho, giving the defenders a spare passer against a two-man press and releasing Hakimi and Mendes from any obligation to stay deep.

Vitinha ↔ João Neves — Counterpresses with

The two central midfielders are the rest-defence when the ball is lost high up. They stay either side of the centre circle, close the first pass out and buy the time the back three needs to retreat. With Hakimi and Mendes ahead of the ball, there is nobody else to do it.

João Neves → Ousmane Dembélé — Runs beyond

Dembélé drops, so somebody has to occupy the space he leaves. Neves is that runner, arriving in the box late from the right half-space rather than starting there. He scored seven times across the season, five of those goals in Ligue 1.

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia → Warren Zaïre-Emery — Creates space for

Kvaratskhelia's habit of standing a defender up before going past him fixes two opponents on the touchline. That is what opens the left half-space, and the left interior is the one who arrives in it, usually as the third man in a combination.

Ousmane Dembélé ↔ Khvicha Kvaratskhelia — Presses with

The press is man-oriented and starts with the centre-forward. Dembélé closes one centre-back and curves his run to take away the pass to the other, while Kvaratskhelia comes off his full-back to meet it. Both jobs have to be done at once or the trap opens.

Ousmane Dembélé ↔ Désiré Doué — Combines with

The central pairing of the front line. Dembélé drops into midfield and Doué runs past him from the right half-space, or the two exchange the centre-forward slot outright. It is the combination that gives the side a numerical advantage in the middle.

Désiré Doué ↔ João Neves — Rotates with

The right half-space belongs to whichever of them is in it. Doué drifts in, Neves goes round the outside or beyond; if Doué stays wide for a one-against-one, Neves takes the inside lane instead. Hakimi's fixed width is what makes the swap safe.

Tactical strengths

• The 3-2-5 occupies all five vertical lanes without needing a specialist winger on the right, because Hakimi supplies the width from full-back.
• Vitinha's ability to receive under pressure means the build-up does not depend on a long ball when the first press is well organised.
• Every forward can beat a defender alone, so the side does not need to construct a chance in order to create one.
• The midfield three pairs a genuine single pivot with two eights who both cover ground, so control, progression and penetration come from one unit.
• Rotations are habitual rather than scripted, so opponents marking man for man find themselves passed between markers.
• Depth in attack is real, with Bradley Barcola rotating into the same front three without changing the shape.

Tactical weaknesses

• The right channel is empty whenever Hakimi is upfield, and the right centre-back's slide across is the block's most exposed movement.
• Man-to-man pressing leaves large spaces behind whoever is beaten, and one lost duel can become a clear counter-attack.
• The pattern depends on Hakimi, who started only fifteen of the thirty-four league matches, so the side spent much of the season without the player its right side is built around.
• The build-up runs through Vitinha to an unusual degree, so teams that man-mark him force the defenders to progress the ball themselves.
• Neither goalkeeper owned the position: Lucas Chevalier started seventeen league matches and Matvey Safonov fifteen, with Safonov playing more of the Champions League and starting the final.

Famous tactical characteristics

The right-back who is a right winger

Achraf Hakimi does not overlap; he starts high. He is up the touchline before the first pass is completed, pinning the opposing full-back and letting Désiré Doué live in the half-space rather than on the line. It is the single decision that turns the team sheet's 4-3-3 into the 3-2-5 the side actually plays, and it is also the space the right centre-back spends the game covering.

Vitinha as the single pivot

Everything in possession is measured from Vitinha. He drops between the centre-backs to make a back three, takes the ball with his back to goal, and is the player who decides whether a possession circulates or accelerates. Teams that man-mark him do not stop the build-up, but they do force Illia Zabarnyi and Willian Pacho to carry the ball forward themselves.

Dembélé's false nine

The centre-forward's first movement is backwards. Ousmane Dembélé drops towards the midfield line, taking a centre-back with him or leaving him behind, and turns a three-against-three in midfield into a four-against-three. The cost is that nobody is holding the defence; the compensation is João Neves and Désiré Doué arriving into the space he has vacated.

Man-oriented pressing from the front

Out of possession the marking is individual rather than zonal, and the trigger is the centre-forward. Dembélé presses one defender and bends his run to close the pass to the next, and the wingers step off their full-backs to meet whatever is played. It wins the ball high; when it is beaten, the back line is alone.

Asymmetric flanks

The two sides are built on opposite principles. On the right the full-back holds the width and the winger comes inside; on the left the winger holds the width and the full-back and interior come underneath him. Opponents cannot prepare one answer for both flanks, and the switch of play between them is a pattern the side returns to repeatedly.

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Related formations

• France National Team Formation and 4-2-3-1 Tactics

  Désiré Doué and Ousmane Dembélé start in both sides, and France's 4-2-3-1 asks a different job of each.

• FC Barcelona Formation and Tactics Under Hansi Flick

  Both build out of a back four into five attackers, but Barcelona use a double pivot where Paris use a single one.

• Liverpool Formation and Tactics: Slot's 2025/26 4-2-3-1

  A contrast in pressing: a man-oriented front three here, a front two dropping into a 4-4-2 wide trap at Liverpool.

Frequently asked questions

What formation does Paris Saint-Germain play?

Paris Saint-Germain play a 4-3-3 under Luis Enrique, the shape they started the 2026 Champions League final in. In possession it becomes a 3-2-5, with Achraf Hakimi advancing from right-back, Vitinha dropping into the back line and the front three rotating.

Who is PSG's holding midfielder?

Vitinha is the single pivot in Luis Enrique's midfield three. He drops between the centre-backs during build-up, receives facing pressure and sets the tempo, with two eights ahead of him. UEFA named him player of the match in the 2026 Champions League final, which Paris won on penalties against Arsenal.

Who played in goal for PSG in 2025/26?

Two goalkeepers shared the season. Lucas Chevalier, signed from Lille in August 2025, started seventeen Ligue 1 matches; Matvey Safonov started fifteen, played more of the Champions League and was in goal for the final against Arsenal.