Kylian Mbappé and Bradley Barcola shook up a long-closed meeting at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.
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A victory that feels good. For its return to the knockout phase of the Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain took over Real Sociedad (2-0), Wednesday February 14, in the round of 16 first leg. At the end of an evening indecisive until the hour mark, Luis Enrique’s players gave themselves the right to consider the return match, in three weeks at Anoeta, without an uncomfortable feeling of urgency.
The tenure of Kylian Mbappé has a lot to do with this very positive outcome. Doubts remained about his state of form, a week after the violent tackle suffered by his left ankle against Brest, but the top scorer in the club’s history responded. It was he who broke the deadlock in the match by being opportunistic at the far post after a corner from Ousmane Dembélé deflected by Marquinhos at the near post (58th).
Barcola lifts the Park
In a true attacking role, he was patient. Even when the Parisian team started to purr in the heart of the first act. He didn’t make the mistake of wanting to do everything by himself. He finished the game with seven shots (four more than any other player) and four of his team’s six shots on target. If Alex Remiro, the Sociedad goalkeeper, had not sent his long shot over the bar, he could have added a 32nd goal (already) to his 2023-2024 collection in the colors of PSG.
He will be content to score for the 10th consecutive time in a Champions League match played at home as a starter. In addition to being able to count on the consistency of its best player (and a particularly resounding Auteuil stand), the Parc des Princes enjoyed a first. That of seeing the young Bradley Barcola score the very first goal of his career in the Champions League at the conclusion of one of his characteristic breakthroughs (70th).
Cold, PSG can be satisfied with having finished a match of such importance without the slightest goal, and even without the slightest shot on target (the only real scare was a long shot from Mikel Merino on the bar at the 45th minute).
After the silence (0 goals in 180 minutes) during the double confrontation against Bayern Munich last year, Parisian supporters and players put no damper on the post-match celebrations. But after this communion – a bit exaggerated for the most acerbic eyes -, a step still remains to be taken for this PSG in search of renewal, which has not seen the quarter-finals of C1 for three years.