Goals: Nzola (36e) pour Lens // Ruiz (59e), Barcola (86e) for PSG
Four days before a decisive meeting against Manchester City in the Champions League, in January, in Bollaert against RC Lens, without several of its executives, at the end of a pitiful qualifier in the Coupe de France, everything came together to see Paris fall for the first time this season in Ligue 1. Failure, and yet, the capital club had not shown much until the hour mark against a determined Lensoise team but who missed in the second half the offensive and defensive appointments that were offered to her. Consequence: Paris continues its march forward in Ligue 1 and can calmly prepare for its European night in the middle of the week.
Nzola leads the way
In a Bollaert which has not forgotten the elimination of the Coupe de France which occurred before the holidays here, Luis Enrique’s players start the meeting in line with their difficult qualification against the heroic amateurs of Espaly in the middle of week : “ timidly”, to put it mildly. Little rhythm, no movement up front, the absences of Achraf Hakimi and Ousmane Dembélé remind us of the extent to which this PSG is dependent on them, and there is only one strike from twenty meters from Fabián Ruiz hijacked by Hervé Koffi which makes the artesian stands tremble a little.
Opposite, despite some absentees there too, the Sang et Or play their game and gain strength as the minutes pass. Despite the cold and a field far from billiards at this time of the season, Will Still’s men are blocking better and better, in the four corners of the green rectangle, the Parisian ball exits and will even end up punishing their wanderings. From a corner, obviously: kicked at the near post by Przemysław Frankowski, Vitinha extends the set piece to the far post and Mbala Nzola takes advantage of Beraldo’s defensive apathy to shoot Gigio Donnarumma (1-0, 36e). At the break, for the hundredth in the Parisian jersey of Warren Zaire-Emery (19 years old), PSG offered nothing and it was logically Lens who took the lead.
Ruiz and Barcola guide Paris
As is often the case, upon returning from the locker room, PSG’s opponent will have a break point that they will miss. This time, it was by a few centimeters that Nzola, who subsequently easily played Lucas Hernandez and took advantage of a gross error from Donnarumma, was deprived by the refereeing body of a double. It’s an understatement to say that this break could have been decisive, because just a few minutes later, Paris finally got its head in line offensively and equalized on the first real opportunity of the second half: moved by Bradley Barcola, Malang Sarr slips and allows the French international to serve Fabián Ruiz behind for the Parisian equalizer (1-1, 59e).
-Luis Enrique decides to launch Joao Neves and Gonçalo Ramos to drive home the point, Paris still concedes as much but like its offensive line, Donnarumma finally shows itself to be intractable and even pulls out all the stops on a strike from Jonathan Gradit at the entrance of the surface that Bollaert had seen at the bottom. Opposite, if Désiré Doué shoots a mine in the face of the heroic Koffi, it will ultimately be Bradley Barcola who will find the key at the very end of the match. On the other hand, the French international winger sees Neves offer him his seventh decisive pass which he improves by sending a mine under the bar of the Lens goal (1-2, 86e). No, it is not this January 18 that PSG will fall into Ligue 1 and it is also not during this 18th day that OM will grab points from this leader who refuses to kneel down in his kingdom.
Relive Lens-PSG (1-2)
