But: Dembélé (90e+2)
It is not yet this Sunday that Lille and Xeka will find a little company, they who remain the only ones to have stolen the Champions Trophy from PSG since 2013, three years ago. At the 974 stadium in Doha, Monaco believed in it for a long time, helped by the XXL performance of Philipp Köhn in his goals. But after once again seeing the opportunities pile up without materializing, PSG found the fault two minutes from the gong through Ousmane Dembélé. The capital club is adding a little more to its cupboard with a thirteenth Champions Trophy.
Had the time for recovery come?
In a stadium far from being full at kick-off, it is the Parisians who are trying to get their new year off to a better start. But the man in this first act is called Philipp Köhn. The last Swiss rampart intervened for the first time in front of the Parisian center forward of the day, before being saved by his crossbar after having himself put Désiré Doué into orbit. Despite this, hostilities are having difficulty getting underway under the gentleness of Doha. Dembélé once again made Köhn shine with two low strikes in quick succession, while the Monegasques launched their first excursions to discover the Parisian camp. And if Vitinha tries from afar to try to force the lock, Gianluigi Donnarumma demonstrates that he has lost none of his talent on his line in front of Maghnes Akliouche in a duel from a distance where Köhn is offered new ammunition by Kang -in Lee just before the break.
Dembélé plays the saviors
A game that gets a little carried away after returning from the locker room with a nice game of ping-pong: a parade from Donnarumma against Eliesse Ben Seghir and a post from Vanderson on one side; a shot too crushed by Doué to deceive Köhn and a good exit from the goalkeeper in front of Dembélé on the other. A simple parenthesis in the mastery of the capital’s players, who quickly took over the game and their collection of corners (13 in total), without ever creating the slightest danger in this phase of play. And even when Achraf Hakimi and Dembélé pulls off a magnificent move, Köhn achieves the feat to deprive the Moroccan of the opener from a tight angle, doing it again in front of Gonçalo Ramos at the start of added time. Ideal for approaching the penalty shootout which then seems to be taking shape? We will never know, a final offensive led by Fabian Ruiz allowing Dembélé to finally find the fault when we no longer expected him (1-0, 90e+2). The year therefore begins as it ended: with a Parisian victory against its main competitor declared at the national level.
Relive PSG-Monaco (1-0)