PSG is very far from having offered champagne football, on the lawn of Reims. The championship leader could not do better than 0-0 against Rémois, Saturday October 8, during the 10th day of Ligue 1. Uninspired with their new look attack, feverish defensively, nervous throughout the meeting, the Parisians were hampered by a voluntary but clumsy Reims team in front of goal (24 shots, only 4 on target).
Without Messi or Neymar, the attack at half mast
Like the Parisian counter-attack in the 20th minute, Kylian Mbappé has long been alone in disrupting the Reims defense. Deprived of his teammates Neymar (on the bench) and Lionel Messi (injured and not in the group) at kick-off, the French international had to deal with Carlos Soler – established for the first time by Christophe Galtier – and Pablo Sarabia . The unusual trio did not pose many problems for one of the worst defenses in Ligue 1 (19 goals conceded).
In the first half, Carlos Soler stood out just once, perfectly launching Kylian Mbappé, who lost his face-to-face against Yehvann Diouf (32nd minute). And that’s about it … In crying lack of automation, the Parisian attack stammered its football for almost an hour, before the entry of Neymar in the 57th minute. The Brazilian could have opened the scoring, perfectly launched by Mbappé, but his shot from the left fled the frame (67th minute). More dangerous, the Parisians failed to score the winning goal, but the Brazilian showed that with him, the Parisian attack had a completely different face.
A battered defense
If the PSG did not concede a goal, it owes it largely to the clumsiness of Reims, and a few stops from its doorman. The Paris defense, with three centrals, had a difficult evening. Sergio Ramos, often eliminated by the Reims attackers, was sent off in the 42nd minute. Marquinhos and Danilo have multiplied the approximations in the raises. Gianluigi Donnarumma made the necessary saves (Munetsi in the 35th minute, Zeneli in the 52nd) to keep his team in the game.
2011 – We had to go back to December 21, 2011 (30 shots in St Etienne) to see Paris suffer as many shots in a Ligue 1 match as tonight in Reims (24). Cornered. #SDRPSG pic.twitter.com/QGJhyrFQw6
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) October 8, 2022
A nervous team in difficulty
Paris Saint-Germain have a bad habit of losing their nerves as soon as the match gets tense. Sergio Ramos was sent off in the 42nd minute, and protester Marco Verratti could have suffered the same fate. Christophe Galtier took no risk by leaving his Italian midfielder at halftime.
21 – Sergio Ramos has collected 21 red cards in the league (Liga + Ligue 1), at least 7 more than any other European Top 5 defender in the 21st century. Nervous. #SDRPSG pic.twitter.com/YTfMEFrthj
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) October 8, 2022
At the end of the second half, as the two teams pushed to force the decision, Hakimi was cautioned for unsportsmanlike behavior (90th minute), before being imitated by Neymar and Mbappé for two gross fouls (91st minute). In total, Pierre Gaillouste, the referee of the meeting, released eight yellow cards (five for Paris, three for Reims) and one red, without giving the impression of controlling his match. Just like Paris, finally.