A week after their heavy defeat against Nantes, Paris Saint-Germain footballers received AS Saint-Étienne this Saturday, February 26. For this revenge-like meeting, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé were lined up together. And the trio was particularly decisive. During a laborious first period, PSG was once again able to count on Kylian Mbappé to avoid a complicated situation: on a sublime pass from Messi, Mbappé managed to equalize just before the break. After the break, PSG managed to reverse the trend, scoring two goals, one from Kylian Mbappé and another from Danilo Pereira. 3-1 in the final score for the capital club, enough to be reassured before the return match against Real Madrid, on March 9, in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Before the match kicked off, the Parisian and Saint-Etienne footballers wanted to support the Ukrainian people. A banner calling for peace was unfurled and carried by the players.
A difficult first period for PSG
The Greens opened the scoring in the 16th minute of play. Taking advantage of a hesitation from Paris, and in particular from Danilo Pereira, Denis Bouanga took the ball and scored the first goal of the game. The Parisians immediately tried to go on the attack, but the Stéphanois showed that they had the tactical and technical keys to annoy them.
It took until the last minutes of the first period for PSG to equalize, thanks to Kylian Mbappé. The MMN trio circulated the ball very quickly, taking it deep and coming up against Paul Bernardoni. A tactic which therefore proved its worth in the 42nd minute. On a pass from Messi, Mbappé popped up in the area and hit hard and crossed. Something to surprise the ASSE goalkeeper and return to the score of 1-1.
An XXL performance by Kylian Mbappé
If the Parisians were badly embarked in the first period, on the return from the break they were much more offensive by scoring from the first minutes (47 ‘). A double signed Kylian Mbappé, once again on a pass from Messi. The French world champion scored his 156th goal in Parisian colors in all competitions. He has therefore just equaled Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the second best scorer in the history of PSG.
Kylian Mbappé then offered, on the outside of the right foot, an assist to his teammate Danilo in the 52nd minute of play. The Portuguese only had to finish with a header: 3-1.
Since the start of the second period, the Greens have only been able to shoot twice, largely dominated by the Parisians. It must be said that Mauricio Pochettino’s men had great chances and in particular a strike from Lionel Messi in the 74th minute. On a pass from the left side of Neymar in the box, the Argentinian tried his luck against Bernardoni, but the ball ended up on the right of the Stéphane goal. In the 80th minute, Neymar was also very close to a new Parisian goal, but his shot failed on the post.
With its 3-1 victory in the final score, PSG widened the gap at the top of the Ligue 1 standings. The capital club now has a 16-point lead over Nice and Marseille.