In a capital derby held in the French league for the first time in nearly half a century, PSG beat Paris 2–1. The favourites won by a single goal: Désiré Doué opened the scoring late in the first half, Paris equalised from the penalty spot after the break, and soon after Ousmane Dembélé netted the winner. Matvey Safonov missed the match due to injury, and it is hard to blame Paris goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier for conceding a penalty placed into the corner. This was reported by euro-football.rureports.
In its subjective ratings, Euro-Football.ru singled out three PSG players whose mistakes could have put the star-studded club at risk of dropping points in the derby against Paris, one of the underdogs.
Senny Mayulu — 4.0.Let’s start with the attack. Until he was substituted, Mayulu spent almost the entire match showing why he doesn’t deserve a starting spot in big games. His shots were off target, he lost 7 of 9 duels, often took awkward touches and looked lost in key moments. Still, in one episode he escaped pressure with a backheel and launched a PSG counterattack. The stats also note that he produced three “key” passes.
João Neves — 3.5.Among the starters, very few had pass accuracy below 90%: Nuno Mendes was slightly lower, while Dembélé’s figure is understandable given his role as a central striker. Considering PSG spent most of the game circulating possession with controlled passing, Neves being dispossessed easily three times helped Paris generate more counterattacks. Midway through the first half he made a good sliding tackle in his own box, but in attack he lacked understanding with Dembélé. He also looked unreliable in duels, winning only 1 of 7.
Ilya Zabarnyi — 3.0.If Mayulu’s and Neves’ mistakes could theoretically have led PSG to drop points, Zabarnyi’s actions brought that closer to happening. Before the move that resulted in the penalty, Neves failed to win the ball back, but it wasn’t an instant counter. Ten seconds later, Otávio played a long ball toward Gori, and Zabarnyi lost the footrace. Then Ilya played carelessly against the same Gori inside his own penalty area, giving the referee grounds to award a penalty. At any level, top-club defenders must see every episode through with precision.
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