Despite their Messi-Neymar-Mbappé trio lined up from the start, PSG lost heavily on Saturday February 19 in Nantes (1-3), their second defeat of the season in Ligue 1, appearing unrecognizable four days after their European performance. against Real Madrid… and very upset against the refereeing.
The victory (1-0) against Madrid on Tuesday in the Champions League was to serve as a “reference match”, but nothing happened. On the contrary, PSG fell back into their failings: overwhelmed in intensity, absent in midfield, fragile defensively, the Parisians were punished by the Nantes, who were leading 3-0 at halftime, and they finished the match by ranting against the decisions of the referee Mikaël Lesage, considered too lax.
“We got over it with the referees”, pestered the middle Marco Verratti at the microphone of Canal +. Equally annoyed, sporting director Leonardo raged against the refereeing “without control”accusing Mr. Lesage of not having protected his players and of having wanted to whistle ” vs “ the Paris club. “Hats off to Nantes, [l’entraîneur nantais Antoine] Kombouaré I’m happy for him, but on the management of the match, the feeling is: “I whistle against you”and honestly it bothers”launched the leader.
Striking contrast
Anyway, the Parisians did not manage to continue in the league after a good European performance. Already at the start of the season, PSG lost their first match in Ligue 1 against Rennes (0-2) in the wake of their victory against Manchester City by the same score. As often this season, the team from the capital gave the impression of not being as involved as during European meetings.
What a contrast with the intensity put by the Parisians a few days ago against Real. If PSG had suffocated the people of Madrid, this time it suffered the furia of Nantes. In front of their boiling public at the Beaujoire stadium, sold out for the occasion, Kombouaré’s men took the advantage from the start, when Randal Kolo Muani concluded a counter initiated by Moses Simon, taking speed from the Parisian defense , not responsive enough (4and). It was then Quentin Merlin who took advantage of the spaces granted by the PSG rearguard to score his first goal in Ligue 1 (16and), with a skylight strike. Just before half-time, a hand from Wijnaldum in the area on a corner offered a penalty to Nantes, converted by Ludovic Blas (45and+6).
Opposite, the association between Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappé was back from the start with the first tenure of the Brazilian since his injury at the end of November 2021 in Saint-Etienne. From the outset, the trio looked for each other, and the Beaujoire public felt that these three men could hold the keys to the match.
A troubled attacking trio
With Messi, most of the time axial and torchbearer for the accelerations of Mbappé and the percussions of “Ney”, the Parisian attack took speed from the men of Antoine Kombouaré, but came up against the impassable Alban Lafont. The Nantes goalkeeper intervened in front of Messi after a dazzling three-way movement from the trio (8and), then ahead of Gueye, on a pass from the Argentinian shortly before the half-hour mark, and Mbappé (29and), especially.
However, he could not do anything, on the restart, on a new acceleration of the “MNM”, finally just: served by Mbappé, Messi found a superb masked pass Neymar, who this time applied to deceive (47)and). The three attackers continued their efforts, but in vain, Neymar even missing a penalty too softly hit, shortly before the hour mark, before going out (73and). They still have two matches in the league to refine their relationship on the pitch, before the return match against Real.
For Paris, this second defeat in Ligue 1 has little impact on the standings, since the capital club is still thirteen points ahead of Marseille. But it’s a booster shot, three weeks before the round of 16 return from C1 to Madrid.