This Sunday evening in the 32nd final of the Coupe de France, the clash between PSG and Lens was won by Paris on penalties (1-1, 3-4 tab). Led by a great Safonov, the Parisians reach the round of 16.
Paris was hot! Trailing, defending champion Paris SG had to wait for penalties (1-1, 4 tab to 3) to beat RC Lens on Sunday, and qualify for the round of 16 of the Coupe de France.
Matvei Safonov, established in the Parisian goals in place of Gianluigi Donnarruma, injured in the face in the league and remaining in Paris, saved his team by diverting the attempts of Mbala Nzola and Andy Diouf. Unlike Hervé Koffi, the Lens goalkeeper, started in place of Brice Samba injured in the ankle, who was unable to stop any Parisian shot.
Paris SG should a priori have a 16th less tough than its 32nd, on the lawn of Espaly, resident of National 3 and scorer of Dijon (N1) also on penalties on Friday. The French champions are ending 2024 on a positive note, but will spend the holidays without having completely dispelled the doubts which surrounded their first part of the season, as they never seemed able to find real goal-scoring situations.
This clash between Ligue 1 teams at the end of the 32nd finals of the Coupe de France lasted just four minutes, excluding the penalties. Curling up in defense to better spring counterattacks, Lens then obtained a corner which the northern defender Abdukodir Khusanov, after a mix-up by Joao Neves, took advantage of to open the scoring (1-0, 66th) and cause the explosion of the Bollaert stadium sold out to host the French champions.
Four slightly crazy minutes
The Lens crowd was still celebrating when Gonçalo Ramos, who had just come on in place of Lee Kang-In, tied the two teams. In the 70th minute, on an opening from captain Marquinhos put back into the axis by the head of Mendes, Kevin Danso, in turn, got confused and the Portuguese center forward took the opportunity to score with a heavy blow.
Four slightly crazy minutes in a match which, until then, never seemed to be able to settle down: Paris, ultra-dominant but still prey to its problems of offensive efficiency never finding the fault, Lens well in place defensively, proceeding to counterattacks that are never decisive. Before and after them, PSG controlled the game by monopolizing the ball and camping in the Lens half of the field, with a preference for the right side where Achraf Hakimi and Lee Kang-In were the most restless Parisians.
The Moroccan defender even thought of scoring, in the 24th minute, by taking a cross from Désiré Doué. But his goal was invalidated for an unclear offside, without Thomas Léonard, the referee of the match, being able to reverse his decision, VAR not being used in the Coupe de France. Hakimi, the most dangerous of Parisians. Désiré Doué and Ousmane Dembélé, very little in sight on Sunday, were once again the symbol of Parisian deficiencies which do not prevent PSG from marching into Ligue 1, but represent a glass ceiling in the Champions League.
