Mauricio Pochettino’s Paris Saint-Germain continue to lead the way after beating Brest 2-0 in the 21st round of Ligue 1.
In the middle of a busy January, Paris Saint-Germain returned to the Parc des Princes for the visit of Stade Brestois. A first in their home ground in 2022, with the firm intention to build on their unbeaten home record to consolidate their position at the top of the table! Despite being without several players, Mauricio Pochettino had Angel Di Maria back in his line-up, lining up in the front line alongside Kylian Mbappé and Mauro Icardi.
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Kylian Mbappé and PSG strengthened their grip on first place in Ligue 1 with a 2-0 win over Stade Brestois 29 at the Parc des Princes on Saturday.
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PSG welcomed Brest to the Parc des Princes as overwhelming favourites, but it was the Bretons who started the brighter of the two sides with Irvin Cardona – preferred in attack here to les Pirates’ captain Steve Mounié – drawing a pair of brilliant reflex saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma inside the opening 10 minutes (9′). Franck Honorat then tried his luck for the visitors with a shot from range which bounced wide (19′). PSG soon settled, though, and should have taken the lead when Mbappé sent Angel Di Maria clear on the counter, but the winger’s subsequent pass for fellow Argentine Mauro Icardi was too heavy and the chance went begging (27′). With just over half an hour gone, Mbappé took matters into his own hands, standing up Brendan Chardonnet and sending an unstoppable effort through the defender’s legs and into the near bottom corner for a fine 10th goal of the campaign (32′).
PSG were the width of the far post away from making it 2-0 with the first attack of the second half, Marco Verratti denied a collectors’ item after a shot which left Donnarumma’s opposite number Marco Bizot standing (48′). They were two goals to the good soon after, though, when Nuno Mendes skipped beyond Ronaël Pierre-Gabriel and squared for Thilo Kehrer to convert from close range (53′). Sergio Ramos’s introduction for Di Maria (72′) saw Kehrer and Nuno Mendes push forward as wing-backs, and the third goal nearly followed moments later, Marquinhos and Icardi denied on the line in quick succession by Chardonnet and Bizot (75′). Bizot had to scramble to steer a deflected Mbappé strike over the bar soon after (77′). Kehrer should have had a second late on, but he scooped a good chance wide (84′) and it ended 2-0.
Mbappé has now hit double figures in each of the last six Ligue 1 Uber Eats seasons – the only player in the division who can lay claim to such a record. This wasn’t necessarily the 23-year-old’s strongest game in the Rouge et Bleu jersey, but he was there when it mattered with a moment of inspiration few others on the pitch could have conjured.
PSG have won their last 11 matches against Brest in all competitions. The last time the Bretons even managed as much as a point against the capital club was all the way back in April 2011 when an Ahmed Kantari own goal denied them victory four minutes from time in a 2-2 draw at the Stade Francis-Le Blé.
At the end of a very serious collective performance, Paris Saint-Germain continues its excellent run at the Parc des Princes and consolidates first place in the table, making it a satisfactory first home game of 2022.
After match PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino said ,”When you assess the game at the end, I think we feel pleased for the players and the performance overall. There are always things to improve, but I think it was important to win to start the first game in the new year winning. We are disappointed that our fans are not here. It’s different football when our fans are not here in the Parc des Princes but overall I am happy with the performance and the three points. I think when we have time to work and improve on different areas I think you are going to see the things on the pitch. I think we have a few weeks ahead to work and we are going to be focused to try improve. But the most important is to feel free, to play always thinking in going forward, being aggressive. Of course, today overall I think when you finish the game the feeling is good because we had the chances to score more goals, we win and I think we also controlled the game.”
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Ligue 1 PSG Brest Football Sports Kolkata
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