By getting up on the lawn of the Bollaert-Delelis stadium, this Saturday, December 4, in the 62nd minute of the match between RC Lens and Paris Saint-Germain (1-1), Keylor Navas knows it: he has just made a mistake which could be fatal to him. Two weeks after his red card received against Nantes (3-1), on November 20 during the 14th day, the Costa Rican goalkeeper has just made a second ball.
On a powerful but relatively harmless distant strike from Seko Fofana, Navas makes a hole in him and allows the Blood and Gold to gain the advantage. Georginio Wijnaldum’s equalizer at the very end of the match for PSG does not change anything for him. His evening is a failure and his blunder could give grain to grind to his trainer Mauricio Pochettino, who has been thinking for several months about the competition between Navas and Gianluigi Donnarumma for the post of goalkeeper number 1 at PSG.
Between Navas and Donnarumma, understanding is cordial, conflicts non-existent. The current is going well, as the Italian (22 years old) recalled in the last edition of France Football : “We are both friends and everything is going very well between us. Keylor and I are united, like the entire locker room. You know, we are two very quiet and respectful boys. It happens that people speak indiscriminately, start to imagine complicated situations. It can not be helped. But this is by no means the reality.“
The fight between the two men for the status of number 1 remains nonetheless fierce. The young and ambitious Donnarumma, who won the Yachine trophy for best goalkeeper of the year on November 29, is opposed to the experienced Navas, winner of three Champions League with Real Madrid (2016, 2017, 2018) and who, despite his 35 years (he will celebrate them on December 15), still has the legs to play a few more seasons.
Receiving the Yachine Trophy is a source of great pride for me. From my birth town of Castellammare di Stabia to Milan and now to Paris. Such a long road, so many changes. Life is a journey… (cont) pic.twitter.com/d55revDsmz
– Gianluigi Donnarumma (@ gigiodonna1) November 29, 2021
As soon as the young Italian arrived in Paris last summer, Pochettino had imagined a system of rotation between the two goalkeepers, which he had tried to explain on November 19 in The team : “From the moment the club made the decision to recruit Donnarumma, who finished best player of the Euro, while he was a number 1 like Navas, there was no debate, we had to adapt. . (…) It would be unfair to give priority to one of the two.“
Since the start of the season, Donnarumma and Navas have therefore alternated between matches for the goals of PSG. But Pochettino, in the same interview, clarified an important detail: “That does not mean that there is not a moment when we will make a choice.“The time may have come, if the Argentina coach considered that the first mistake by one of the two goalkeepers would be enough to settle the matter.
Confident, Donnarumma had indicated to the Brazilian channel TNT on November 13, during the last international break, “be at ease, because the situation will eventually resolve itself“. If it is not yet fully resolved, the situation has very clearly evolved with the error of Navas against Lens which closely followed his expulsion against Nantes. Imperial since his arrival in Paris in 2019, exceptional in several matches Champions League last year against FC Barcelona or Bayern Munich, Navas has succumbed to competitive pressure in recent weeks.
An observation that deplores Lionel Charbonnier. “I said from the start that this policy (the rotation between the two guards, editor’s note) would ultimately destroy one, or even the two guards. And today, it’s Navas who pays the price“, explains the former goalkeeper and winner of the 1998 World Cup with the Blues. Indeed, it seems to be more damaging for the moment to Navas, less serene than the young Donnarumma, very solid and who is gradually winning the hearts of Parisian supporters It is well known that the new is always more flashy than the old.
Trabajando duro con la mente en el partido del domingo.
Go Paris!!!
pic.twitter.com/T8cYJkGz38– Keylor Navas (@NavasKeylor) December 10, 2021
The feeling from the pitch is that Donnarumma has taken the lead in recent weeks but statistics point to the Italian and Navas making almost similar copies since the start of the season. In addition to his mistake last Saturday, the Costa Rican goalkeeper went on parades against the Lensois (6 saves). On average, Navas (14 games, 16 goals conceded) and Donnarumma (10 games, 9 goals conceded) suffer three shots per game. And the two repel 75% of the shots on target suffered by PSG.
In this little game of comparisons, it is therefore errors, mistakes in concentration and the slightest sign of nervousness that are taken into account. Something to make Navas tremble. But the latter is very influential in the locker room and his discomfort, if he were to be relegated to the position of number 2, could hurt the group.
States of soul criticized by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, former PSG player and ex-teammate of Donnarumma at AC Milan, in the Corriere della Serra December 1: “It is not normal that the South Americans require that the other (Navas, note) play. Gigio is stronger.“Pochettino and his staff must now find a solution when Navas’ ball could push Donnarumma to demand more consideration.
Pochettino could rely on a hybrid system, like Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid during the 2013-2014 season: Iker Casillas played in the Champions League and Diego Lopez in the championship. A rotation that Hugo Lloris is currently experiencing at Tottenham, he who only plays Premier League matches. While waiting for a new turn in this rivalry and a clear speech from the Parisian staff, Donnaruma should keep the cages of PSG tonight against Monaco.