And the miracle did not happen. Having come close to being penalized four days earlier against Marseille, saved from nothing by a last-second goal from Gonçalo Ramos and multiple saves from Lucas Chevalier, PSG ended up cracking by being eliminated by Paris FC (0-1) in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France. A lack of luck, according to Luis Enrique, who considered it “easy to judge this match”, as his players will have lacked efficiency in the last gesture to hope to win the match. “We played well but to win in football you have to score goals and that was not the case,” said the Spanish coach speaking to beIN Sports after the match. You have to accept defeat. The sequence of matches every three days is not mentally difficult. We created chances, we played from the first to the last minute. I wish Paris FC the best for the future. »
A facade speech for this born competitor, who did not really convince the assembly, despite the obvious hold-up carried out by the opponent. PSG certainly had 70% possession, attempted 25 shots against 4 on the PFC side, but never managed to make it happen against the excellent Obed Nkambadio. “We dominated the match but we didn’t manage to score. We missed this goal, recalls Senny Mayulu, looking crestfallen when debriefing the meeting. You have to finish the match as quickly as possible, score earlier to make it easier. »
And while against OM last week, they were able to count on a small miracle to avoid disaster, the magic did not intervene this time.
Mendes error and missed face-to-face by Dembélé
The executives showed worrying limits, like Vitinha whose influence was too limited in the midfield. Fabian Ruiz was also a shadow of himself as he fled the last thirty meters, unable to put any rhythm into the direction of the game. What can we say about the multiple opportunities wasted by Bradley Barcola, the lack of flair from Gonçalo Ramos at the forefront of the attack or the face-to-face missed by Ousmane Dembélé (71st) who had the opener at the tip of his foot!
Despite its domination, Paris was not able to take the lead, letting its opponent punish it by taking advantage of the passivity of its defenders and the error of the unfortunate Nuno Mendes, who had been enormous in recent weeks and who penalized his team by losing the ball at the start of the action which led to Jonathan Ikoné’s goal (74th). There was something to be angry about.
“I think the other team played their game. Well done to them. It slowed down the game, it was anti-play from start to finish. It shouldn’t happen like that, Ramos cursed as he left the field, because the referees are there to apply the rules and it’s not acceptable to play like that. »
The night promises to be short and hectic for the Parisians who had not experienced defeat in the oldest French competition since February 8, 2023 and a success won by Olympique de Marseille. A reaction is necessary from Friday in Ligue 1 against Lille, to erase doubts, relaunch a positive dynamic and maintain pressure on the Lensois leader.
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