The holder will be there in the round of 16 but it was not easy. PSG snatched their qualification on penalties on the Lens lawn on Sunday, in the last match of this Coupe de France weekend (1-1, 3-4 tab). Abdukodir Khusanov opened the scoring from a corner (66th), incoming Gonçalo Ramos quickly responded (70th). Parisian goalkeeper Matvey Safonov made the difference by repelling two shots on goal and Paris will challenge the Espaly amateurs in the next round.
After a man to the young retiree Jimmy Cabot, 30 years old and injured in a knee, PSG immediately monopolized the ball in the Lensois camp who mainly stuck together. With Ousmane Dembélé aligned at the forefront of their attack but surrounded by the three opposing centrals, the visitors were slow to appear truly dangerous. Moving on the right wing, Kang-In Lee even had to swap with Dembélé (24th). In the process, the biting Achraf Hakimi thought he opened the score at six meters on a low cross from Désiré Doué but the goal was refused for an offside far from obvious (25th).
Blood and Gold with two faces
Lens responded quickly with a first off-target shot from Przemyslaw Frankowski (26th). If center forward M'bala Nzola proved valuable with his power and speed, Angelo Fulgini was misguided alongside him. The unusual Artesian goalkeeper Hervé Koffi responded by diverting onto his crossbar a small volley from Marquinhos from a corner (39th) and the Sang et Or reached the break with a goalless score.
Will Still's men showed a much more conquering face from the start of the second half and the debates became much more contested. Dembélé awkwardly missed his volley from six meters at the same time as the ball (51st). Doué then came up against Koffi (53rd) while Lens responded with a curling shot next to the frame from Fulgini (54th). The Artésiens also almost benefited from a penalty for a muscular aerial exit from Safonov which hit Frankowski (56th).
Safonov responds
Becoming biting again as they regularly are, the Lensois were rewarded with Khusanov's corner goal for a first personal achievement by the promising 20-year-old Uzbek since his arrival in the summer of 2023 (1-0, 66th). Bradley Barcola and Gonçalo Ramos had just come on, and the Portuguese center forward quickly equalized with a recovery in the opposing area after a missed tackle from Kevin Danso (1-1, 70th).
Ramos provided the attacking presence the visitors lacked, Lens remained sharp and the ball spun from an area in the final quarter of an hour. Dembélé aimed better but Koffi intervened (88th). During the fateful session, however, Brice Samba's understudy could do nothing against Vitinha, Ramos, Dembélé and Barcola. Safonov repelled the attempts of Nzola and Andy Diouf. Criticized after the Champions League match lost at Bayern (1-0), the Russian goalkeeper scored points this time while Gianluigi Donnarumma was injured in the face. It allows PSG to avoid a failed entry into the running and has also certainly gained a new opportunity to show its qualities.
