No coach has taken more points from Paris Saint-Germain than Christophe Galtier in the last decade - ligue1.com looks at how the Nice coach has become the bête noire of the Ligue 1 Uber Eats leaders.
"'Galette' has the recipe to beat PSG," said the Nice boss' former Marseille teammate Eric Roy, who watched the capital club's Coupe de France defence come to an end in a penalty shoot-out in late January before Galtier orchestrated Sunday's 1-0 Ligue 1 win. Earlier in the season, Nice had drawn 0-0 at the Parc des Princes.
"He continues to apply what has worked on previous occasions: discipline, and intense, collective pressing when the ball is lost to get everyone involved in winning the ball back. To try and beat Paris, you have to be very good when you win the ball back."
WATCH: Late drama from Delort as Nice beat PSG
Khephren Thuram embodied that strategy on Sunday. The youngest of the Lilian Thuram's two footballing sons, his elder brother, the Borussia Mönchengladbach and France international forward Marcus Thuram, insists Khephren is the most talented player of the brood. It's beginning to look as if he's right.
Thuram, who turns 21 this month, was placed in a new position on the left of midfield by Galtier, but it did not affect his hybrid game that works so effectively on both sides of the ball. The France U21 international recovered possession eight times before being replaced 11 minutes from time. He also completed 90% of his passes, providing an effective link to Amine Gouiri ahead of him. "Khephren is an important element in our game and in the way we want to play with the ball," noted Galtier.
It was the fourth successive competitive fixture in which a Galtier side has managed to keep a clean sheet against one of the most prolific sides in Europe. To do that, Thuram could not be the only one to produce a top-drawer performance. "To play like that and beat Paris, everyone has to be on the same wavelength," said Galtier, and they were. Thuram's input was matched by central midfield duo Pablo Rosario and Mario Lemina, while Flavius Daniliuc was excellent in man-marking Neymar out of the game as Nice tirelessly and suffocatingly pressed their opponents.
"We played with a lot of rhythm and intensity," said Galtier. "Etiher you leave them in their comfort zone and then the match becomes difficult for us, or you try to get them out of their comfort zone. We managed to do that a number of times." It was a tactic ex-PSG boss Carlo Ancelotti, who shared the Ligue 1 coach of the year award with Galtier in in 2013, also employed in Madrid's stunning midweek success to knock Mauricio Pochettino's side out of the Champions League.
French Emperor Napoleon always asked whether a general was lucky, and Galtier acknowledged that he enjoyed a touch of fortune too. PSG had their UEFA Champions League second leg with Real Madrid looming, and crucially were without the suspended Kylian Mbappé at the Allianz Arena.
"Let's not kid ourselves," said Galtier. "There's a PSG with Kylian and a PSG without Kylian." With the in-form France international striker on the sidelines, Galtier was able to squeeze the game and PSG — without the pace in the side to get beyond the hosts' backline — struggled to threaten. They touched the ball just 13 times in the Nice penalty area, their lowest tally in a Ligue 1 game since November 2020.
WATCH: Nice hold PSG goalless at the Parc
But unlike the two previous encounters this season, which both ended goalless after 90 minutes, Galtier's team was able to find a way to find the net at the opposite end as he employed a more attacking philosophy.
"It's not like the two previous games against Paris. I think we were more courageous in bringing the ball out, we more lively going forward, even if we also made some technical errors. In the second half, we defended too deep, but with Mbappé out, I wanted to defend higher up the pitch."
By doing that, Galtier was also able to release his attacking players. "They're capable of devastating bursts forward with Justin Kluivert, Amine Gouiri or even Calvin Stengs, who I think still hasn't shown his full potential." It was the latter — after coming off the bench to replace Thuram — who sent over the cross for Andy Delort to smash home the late winner.
"We created very little. We had the ball, but struggled to find space. You have to be aggressive and take risks, we didn't do that," said PSG captain Marquinhos, summing up half of the reasons why his team lost the game before going on to explain the rest. "They had very few chances, but they were clinical at the end of the game."
So, 'defend well and take your chances' is — in short — the way to beat PSG, though it's not a path to success that Galtier found immediately. In fact, it's one he's come across thanks to painful experience.
He's faced PSG 32 times — more than any other club — and has won just six times, losing on 19 occassions, most of those with Saint-Etienne. But Galtier has picked up a 17 points in 21 meetings with the capital club since the Qatari investors took over in 2011 — more than any other coach — and suffered just one loss in the his five most recent encounters.
Though he admits that "the title won't be for us" this season with PSG's lead over the field in double digits and games running out, with INEOS' backing and his own know-how, you would not bet against him masterminding a stronger championship challenge in 2022/23.
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