It took until the 23rd day for PSG to finally deliver 90 minutes in Ligue 1 this season. On the lawn of the defending champion Lille, the capital club largely won (1-5), Sunday February 6. Symbol of a team that is growing in power, Lionel Messi also had his best match under the Parisian tunic. Scorer (38th), the Argentinian hit the crossbar on a free kick and guided his partners well. It was time, ten days before the knockout stages of the Champions League against Real Madrid (go on February 15, return on March 9).
Mastering his subject perfectly, Paris found a continuity too rarely seen in his game until then. By maintaining a high level of intensity throughout the match, Mauricio Pochettino’s players put on a benchmark performance. Undoubtedly one of the best since taking over as coach thirteen months ago.
Paris-Saint-Germain was nevertheless well helped by a Lille team in great defensive difficulty. The term scuttling is probably not usurped to describe the rout of the Northerners. The unfortunate goalkeeper Ivo Grbic distinguished himself, despite himself, with three goals. First by committing a handball on a harmless cross benefiting Danilo (10th). By missing, then, an exit on a corner offering the second goal to Kimpembe (31st).
He was even more unfortunate in the second period, taking a double from Danilo after a superb save … but a muddled clearance (51st). To top it off, the Croatian was not caught by an overwhelmed defense. By having the ball stolen in his own area, Sven Botman rushed Lionel Messi’s goal. Only Kylian Mbappé’s superb curling strike to complete this success (67th) was not punctuated by a Lille error.
This scenario is all the more damaging as Losc had entered the game rather well. Dangerous in the wake of a Hatem Ben Arfa aligned for the first time at the start, Lille held off PSG for thirty minutes. The former Nice even made a decisive pass, after a good overflow concluded by Sven Botman (28th). The score was then 1-1, but the Northerners were betrayed by their defense. Orphans of Reinildo, who left for Atlético last week, they were overwhelmed by the incessant attacks from full-backs Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi.
It’s a second defeat in a row for Lille who miss the opportunity to get closer to European places. Still stuck in eleventh place in the standings, the Mastiffs are not taking off, two weeks before their Champions League match against Chelsea.