At the start of the season, a few weeks after his induction Luis Enrique gave us some advice. More than his words, his actions had to be judged. Translate: in addition to what is happening within the walls of the PSG Campus, take a good look at the compositions of my team. We take it literally and we easily deduce that he found his three starters in attack.
With the exception of the Champions League match against Dortmund (1-1, December 13), where Dembélé was suspended, and the Coupe de France match against Revel (9-0, January 7), where he turned, the Spanish technician has continued the same offensive trio since the beginning of December and a success in Le Havre (2-0, the 3rd).
Ousmane Dembélé, Kylian Mbappé and Bradley Barcola, these three were still on the pitch at the Bollaert-Delelis stadium on Sunday evening and without straining their talent they made the difference to allow Paris to win in Lens. This has not happened since October 17, 2014 (3-1). The capital club owes this success primarily to the former Lyonnais who arrived this summer for a little over 50 million euros including bonuses.
17 balls exchanged between Mbappé and Barcola
After a timid first quarter of an hour, Barcola took his first initiatives, undermining Frankowski on each of his hooks, before accelerating to score the first goal of the match. Well launched by Mbappé, it ended subtly on the left of Samba. With the captain of the Blues, the understanding deserves to be improved but the two men have solid foundations and find each other. Throughout the 90 minutes, they exchanged 17 balls. A figure that neither Randal Kolo Muani nor Gonçalo Ramos ever knew when they played with the Parisian number 7.
In addition to the statistics, the two boys gave the feeling of knowing how to alternate their positioning, without ever stepping on each other’s toes, while being complementary. In this position as a leading attacker with total freedom, Mbappé seems to be finding his feet since the start of the year after a convincing performance against Toulouse during the Champions Trophy (2-0, January 3). He picks up, deflects, accelerates and touches a lot more balls. But above all it is decisive.
Finally a balanced team
On the other side, Dembélé, orphan of Achraf Hakimi and his races, spent part of his first period zoning out and returning to the inside of the game. If he served Mbappé well in depth on a few occasions , his influence was ultimately less but on a counter with his friend, he offered him a clear assist for the break goal (2-0, 90th). And a second counter goal for three attackers who excel in offensive transition.
Even without playing a very high-level match, this attack gives real guarantees for the future and above all balance to a team which regularly lacked it in the first part of the season. By making room for Barcola in the left lane, Luis Enrique no longer needs to send Vitinha or another midfielder to cover the backs of Mbappé, who is now relieved of certain defensive efforts and sees his influence grow (78 balls touched against Lens).
While Real Sociedad looms in exactly one month, Luis Enrique had promised that his team would show a completely different face for this crucial meeting. With a reference attack, he already has a little more certainty.
