Paris offers Marseille and wins the “classic” of Ligue 1
The result does not differ much from previous years. Paris Saint-Germain won at home on Sunday, October 16, against Olympique de Marseille, at the end of the eleventh day of Ligue 1. But the scoreboard does not do justice to this “classic” of the French championship, both Marseillais and Parisians fought a lively duel. Winners (1-0), thanks to a goal from Neymar at the end of the first period (45+2e), Kylian Mbappé’s teammates remain undefeated this season.
“We knew it would be a battle. Marseille have a very aggressive game, they are having a very good league.”, commented Marco Verratti interviewed on Prime Video after the meeting. After three draws in a row and a hectic week off the field with the revelations of Kylian Mbappé’s departure desires, the Parisians knew they were expected to face the third in the championship. “It was a game to win absolutely”insisted the Italian “Little Owl”, “We had chances and it would have been important not to suffer until the last minute. But we managed to win, we are happy. »
From the outset, Christophe Galtier’s men tried to take the Marseillais from behind. But like Lionel Messi, several times defeated by the Marseille goalkeeper, they fell on a Pau Lopez of the big days. With seven stops, the last rampart of the Phocaeans delayed the deadline for a long time. Until Neymar’s goal, perfectly served by Mbappé, after a lightning attack.
“We are still undefeated”
“I really liked what happened in the game, the sequences, we created a lot of chances”, savored the Parisian coach, Christophe Galtier. In a new system (a 4-3-3) making it possible to densify the midfield, his men have multiplied the opportunities. If the game ended with only one goal scored, in total, the two teams fired 41 shots during the game. “The match ended 1-0, but it could have ended 5-5recognized Igor Tudor after the meeting, questioned by the broadcaster. But Paris deserved its victory. » His men never gave up, and pushed to the end to equalize, but the Marseillais never seemed able to take the Parisians from behind. “We may have respected Paris a little too much at the beginning and then we changed that”completed the Marseille coach.
In a more balanced second period, where the Marseillais tried to press the PSG players more, the two goalkeepers multiplied the stops. At the end of the game, the expulsion of OM defender Samuel Gigot, for a foul on Neymar, did not help the teammates of a very present Chancel Mbemba to reverse the situation. “We knew very well that today it was going to be very difficult today in Paris. We missed our match because we had a lot of chances. regretted the Congolese defender.
With this twenty-first victory against Marseille since the takeover of the club by QSI (in 27 games), PSG widened their first gap at the top of Ligue 1 – three points ahead of Lorient. “We are still undefeated”, insisted Christophe Galtier, happy to conclude a crazy week. For its part, Marseille leaves the podium for the first time of the season, and bows a second time in a row, after their surprise defeat against Ajaccio.