PSG went to seek on the lawn of Lens and after the penalties their qualification for the round of 16 of the Coupe de France, not undeservedly however. A look back at the individual performances of the Parisians on a case-by-case basis.
Safonov: The Russian goalkeeper took advantage of Donnarumma's absence to have his first positive moment with the PSG jersey thanks to these two rejected shots on goal. Before this victorious session, he had already had an overall rather positive match. A few guaranteed saves, a rather clean kicking game and good management of his penalty area in the set despite a questionable fist attack in front of Frankowski.
Judge: Faced with the 5-3-2 Lensois who were waiting very low for the Parisians, the Moroccan full-back was quickly able to be offensive but he could see that he was being closely monitored by Medina. As a result, he had a hard time putting himself forward despite a still high volume of ball hits and the referee denied him a goal that was completely valid where he had slipped finely into the area. This injustice took him out of his match a little and he never really recovered from it, no longer really managing to finish his actions or play in a truly positive way.
Marquinhos: The Parisian captain experienced two very different halves: as much as the first was calm and assured, the second was frankly painful and the Brazilian in great difficulty. From the moment when Lens was able to really play counterattacks and arrive launched, Marquinhos was in great difficulty and could only run towards his goal most of the time, overtaken like the corner on the Lensois goal that he avoidably concedes. Note, however, a good defensive header and a real good presence on offensive set pieces, with among others a recovery on the crossbar.
There : A first restart blocked in the first period had no consequences but Nzola gradually put him in difficulty and the Ecuadorian, already in trouble in Monaco on Wednesday, suffered a lot again. Dominated in the duels and on the edge of each counter although he was dominant in the first period, he suffered each opposing attack as rarely this season. With the ball, it was barely better.
Nuno Mendes: Lateral at first quite free, he ultimately did not do much with this freedom from an offensive point of view and a long part of his match can be summed up by a certain absence from the debates. Little in sight offensively, hardly more defensively, just as neutral in the circulation of the ball, Mendes simply compensated for his drop in defensive level after the break with a good end to the match from an offensive point of view. Nothing really remarkable in the end.
Vitinha: The Parisian sentinel was probably the most technically applied player of the match on Bollaert's very poor pitch. His touch of finesse in an intense match was frankly appreciated, like his sublime layup for Dembélé which ended with a missed volley or his very gentle penalty. Overall, Vitinha tried hard to put some rhythm into the Parisian ball circulation but only partially succeeded, without it necessarily being his fault. Defensively, he managed a counter or two well but had great difficulty containing the Lens power.
João Neves: Positioned in the role of left relay player which he knows quite well, the Portuguese initially mainly ensured balance in the middle with the climbs of Mendes. But he ultimately never entered the game and was invisible for almost three quarters of the match, only the end allowing him to stand out a little. On the Lensois goal, he also misses his header clearance. A match to forget, probably his worst in Paris.
Fabian Ruiz : Once again positioned in a role as a right midfielder who positioned himself very high on the pitch, the Spaniard was quite clearly the Parisian midfielder who took the most risks but this backfired more against him than anything else given his technical clumsiness of the day. By regularly attempting passes that were too complicated or out of time, he mainly offered counter balls to Lens. Defensively, he fought well and recovered a few balls but did not make up for all his mistakes.
Zaire-Emery replaced him and signed an average entry: some good actions with the ball, others much less, and a physical impact again quite irregular from one action to the next.
Lee : Positioned as a right winger, the South Korean quickly found himself organizing a lot of Parisian play which leaned to the right. Always technically clean and available, he however has difficulty finding his partners in the direction of goal and has played a lot behind or on the same line. After moving into the middle after a while, he didn't do any better and overall had a lot of trouble making the last move, whether it was a shot or a pass. . To his credit, several well-hit corners on the other hand.
Stagger replaced him and positioned himself on the left side. He brought width and a little dynamism to the corridor but was often too soft to conclude his actions, therefore not offering much in the end.
Dembélé: Placed in a false point as against Lyon (3-1) a week earlier, he did not have the same success and his partners had great difficulty finding him in the heart of the Lens defense, except when he went down very low. Passed to the right quite quickly, the result was not much better and, although he was obviously more prominent in the game, he had terrible difficulty being precise or even concentrated in the last third of the field this who brought terrible waste in the last gesture, including a close volley missed against the goalkeeper. His penalty was brilliantly taken, however.
Gifted : Positioned as a left winger, the young Parisian suffered a lot from the game which leaned enormously to the right and we therefore only saw him in sequences. If he had a variable success rate in the duels, he did however manage to stand out well on a few occasions: his invalidated decisive pass for Hakimi was very well felt while an excellent sequence in the area gave him allowed to hit on goal. Too bad to have been so rarely found by his partners.
Gonçalo Ramos replaced him and he proved that you can do a lot with a few touches: a goal from a center forward of crazy class, presence in the area on crosses, a good support for Dembélé and a perfect penalty against a Koffi who was off to a good start. Once again, a very successful return to school.
