Quadruple defending champion, Paris SG had to leave the Champions Trophy to Lens (1-0), combative and resilient despite half the match played outnumbered, Sunday August 16 in the evening at the Bollaert stadium. Four days after hosting the European Super Cup, won in Salzburg against Aston Villa (2-1), PSG’s trophy cabinet will remain closed this time, while the capital club was favorite.
But he experienced his first false note in this duel between the two best teams of last season, beaten by the intensity and heart of Racing Club de Lens, who won the Champions Trophy for the first time, supported by a gala Bollaert stadium.
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Despite numerous departures – Wesley Saïd, Allan Saint-Maximin, Malang Sarr, Mamadou Sangaré, Adrien Thomasson – the Sang et Or have not lost the foundations of their game: surpassing oneself, tenacity and riot of energy.
Too much for Paris Saint-Germain, several of whose executives like Ousmane Dembélé, Désiré Doué, Fabian Ruiz and Achraf Hakimi, among others, have just returned from vacation, a month after playing in the World Cup.
This physical deficit was seen more at Bollaert than at Salzburg, where the Parisians, although pushed around by the Villans, played with the confidence of a double European champion and formidable efficiency.
An unbalanced game
It is precisely in this area that Paris failed on Sunday evening, missing the opportunities which would have allowed it to equalize during a second period which it dominated, with numerical superiority for the majority of it.
Because this match, which started at full speed between two teams who sometimes fought without fear, completely changed in seven minutes. First when Florian Thauvin opened the scoring in a somewhat lucky way by catching a missed shot from Matthieu Udol at close range (32e). Then when Kyllian Antonio, late in his duel, was guilty of a dangerous tackle on Maghnes Akliouche, receiving a direct red card (39e).
The match then became frankly unbalanced in the game, Lens assuming a more defensive position to preserve its advantage by playing low and pressing less on the Parisians, which it had been doing very well until now. The Lens possession phases have become rarer, too.
But surprisingly, Luis Enrique’s players were unable to take advantage of this new scenario. Désiré Doué found the crossbar with a shot from a tight angle in added time of the first period, then the Parisians were less dangerous and precise in the second (Vitinha, 50e ; Nuno Mendes, 61e ; Ousmane Dembélé, 74e84e).
The revenge of Lens
They are Mendes (62e) and Dembélé (81e), entered on the hour mark, who had the two best Parisian chances to equalize, but the first saw Robin Risser, author of a solid and calm match, intervene, when the second completely missed his volley, a few meters from the Lens cages.
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The Parisians definitely missed their chance when the Portuguese left-back was sent off for an elbow on Michal Skoras (87e), which also made this match more tense, with Andrija Bulatovic and Achraf Hakimi receiving two yellow cards a few minutes later.
In the stands too, there was an air of revenge for the club from the mining area, frustrated by the postponement of what could have been the title match last season between the two teams, at the request of PSG, who wanted additional rest for their European game against Liverpool. The match had then lost its interest, its flavor, too.
Lens has had its revenge and is ideally starting its new cycle with Dino Toppmöller on its bench. For Paris, this first disappointment comes while the team, not quite formed (arrivals of Ferran Torres and Mika Godts on Saturday, expected departures), is still getting used to the dawn of a season where it will aim for a much higher objective: the European treble.
With AFP
