⚽️ ⚽️ Paris Saint-Germain ⚽️ ⚽️
After suffering a tough home defeat to Manchester City in the first game of the UEFA Semifinals, PSG got back on track this weekend with a solid win over Lens.
Brazilian star Neymar broke through with a goal in the 33rd minute, putting PSG up early at 1-0. It would stay that way through the duration of the first half.
In the second half, Marquinos managed to nab a goal in the 59th minute, and the Parisians were up, 2-0.
However, Ignatius Ganago managed to answer for Lens with a goal in the 61st minute to close to within 2-1, making it a close game. Still, PSG managed to play tough defense the rest of the way, and held on for the win.
Both teams passed very efficiently, although PSG held onto the ball for considerably longer, and had twice the amount of solid shots on goal, at 6 to 3 for Lens.
With the win, PSG remains in second place, still one point behind the Ligue 1eaders, Lille. Both teams have played 35 games, but Lille has accumulated 76 points, while PSG has earned 75, but are still nipping at their heels. Monaco and Lyon have both slipped a bit, and are teetering on the bring of irrelevance in terms of the race for first place. Monaco has managed to accumulate 71 points in their 35 games, while Lyon has acquired 70 points. Lens, the team that PSG defeated this weekend, is in fifth place, but well behind the top four, having obtained only 56 points in their 35 games to date.
As I type this, we're just a few hours from the second leg between PSG and Manchester City. I know PSG are underdogs in light of their disastrous second half in the first leg, but according to PSG's Italian central midfielder, Marco Verratti, the club couldn't wait for this game. In other words, there's reason to believe that far from being resigned to elimination, they're still thinking in terms of fighting for a berth in the final. Which is obviously good.
ReplyDeleteAs for Lens, their next opponent is none other than Lille. That's going to be a huge game, because if Lille wins that one, I think they'll hold on and be crowned Ligue 1 champions. However, considering that Lens has a good team and that they're arguably Lille's biggest rivals historically (regional bragging rights in northern France), I'm predicting a draw in that game, which would have huge (and obviously negative) ramifications for Lille's title hopes, provided of course that PSG do what they need to do.
2-0 for Manchester City with a few minutes left to play. PSG trails 4-1 on aggregate, and the best they can hope for is to score a consolation goal in the waning moments of the match. What a disappointing way to go out, after having eliminated Barcelona and Bayern. Mbappé wasn't available due to injury, but that doesn't change the fact that PSG were apparently thoroughly dominated, which wasn't helped by Neymar playing selfishly rather than trying to involve his teammates (per the radio commentators), and that Di María was red-carded in the 69th minute. The best PSG can hope for at this point is to win Ligue 1 and/or the Coupe de France. But it's hard to get excited about that in light of how encouraging their Champions League prospects seemed until the second half of their semifinal series.
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