At the Parc des Princes,
It was still daylight and the smell of smoke bombs waved by the Lensois supporters still hung over the Park when Bradley Barcola served caviar to Ousmane Dembélé for the opener. The electric start resonated with the sound of songs from the Auteuil corner, the verve exacerbated by the freshness of autumn, and it took an in-depth knowledge of Paris Saint-Germain to understand that the climax of the evening had just been reached. On a brilliant or stupid goal, a question of perspective. That of Will Still leans towards the second option.
“We lose on a defensive throw-in that we don't defend very well,” regretted the Lensois coach at the microphone of beIN Sports. We showed a little too much respect in the first half and we gave them room to implement what they wanted to do. When you come to the Park you have to be very, very good, and we weren't that throughout the match. »
Brice Samba heroic in the Lensois goals
For its part, PSG was rather very good throughout the meeting, we can speak without trembling of one of the most accomplished collective performances of the season, particularly in the first period, where all the forces were in agreement to make the Lens rearguard dance, mainly Barcola and Asensio. With a talent unique enough to succeed in giving the impression that the match was folded as if the table showed 4-0, while Luis Enrique's players were only one ahead. And a problem at the end of the chain: this PSG does not know how to kill matches. The mayonnaise sets, the ketchup takes a while to come.
In Ligue 1, against an opponent full of gifts in the last third of the field, it works, but the European difficulties prove that the degree of efficiency is insufficient to aspire to better in the Champions League. Small mitigating circumstances for the Parisian mess: Brice Samba's Superman match, heroic in the second half in front of Nuno Mendes and especially Bradley Barcola, who was seen cleaning up in the Lens corner.
“We would have liked to score more,” said Doué
Ousmane Dembélé admits that his team should have scored “two, three more goals”, and Désiré Doué, passing through the mixed zone, concedes that the lack of realism was a subject of discussion in the locker room at half-time. The problem has the merit of being identified, at the same time, one would have to be blind not to see it. “We would have liked to score more,” regrets the Olympic silver medalist. We created a lot of chances, we are very dangerous during the matches, and that is the most important thing. There will be days where we put a lot more, days where we only put one. » And water gets wet. Thank you Désiré.
For his part, Luis Enrique accepts the ineffectiveness of his team despite the half-hour of numerical superiority after the expulsion of Khusanov, and happily turns a blind eye to the 18 shots, 8 on target and 69% of possession for a only goal. In other words, as usual, he is very satisfied with what he saw on the pitch at the Parc des Princes, we know the song. “They have the right attitude, they had a lot of chances, even if we don't always score. But there is no team that scores every time. » In any case, it doesn't exist in Paris, not these days.
