Beyond the final result, what to remember after the Parisian victory over Rennes this Saturday, at the Parc des Princes, during the 15th day of Ligue 1.
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“Kvara” in a big evening
Since the start of the season, he has often been criticized for showing two faces between the Champions League and the championship. Saturday evening, during the Parisian victory over Rennes (5-0), during the 15th day of Ligue 1, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia pulled out all the stops. Aggressive without the ball, not stingy with his efforts, the Georgian also and above all deserved the nickname of magician with which the speaker of the Parc des Princes bestowed him. The ex-Neapolitan has never stopped provoking on the left. And it was all alone, like a grown-up, that he scored from the right to open the scoring, after singing the song to Przemyslaw Frankowski. In the second half, he did not let up his pace and was rewarded for his efforts by scoring strongly, after a big restart error from Brice Samba (see below). All good. We were waiting for a response from Paris but also from “Kvara”. We got them.
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Among the Parisian satisfactions of the evening, let us cite the solid Willian Pacho behind, the hyperactive João Neves – decisive passer but author of some mysterious restarts – and the energetic Warren Zaire-Emery, who continues to act as interim on the right in the absence of the Moroccan Achraf Hakimi.
Like Digard, Beye kept his word
Like Didier Digard with Le Havre (3-0), Habib Beye asked his players to come to the Parc des Princes “with a lot of confidence and the ambition to pose problems» to Parisians. They did it. Positioned high on the pitch and aggressive in duels, the Bretons tried to play their game, with a few sequences of possession here and there and especially quick transitions. It could have worked. Except that the Parisians, beaten in Monaco (1-0) during their last outing and relegated to four points behind the leader Lens before kick-off, played quality football. And they thus stopped Stade Rennes’ great series of four consecutive victories in Ligue 1. But at least the Bretons tried. They have nothing to be ashamed of. In any case not in the first period and until the odd moments of Samba and Jacquet (see elsewhere)… They were simply beaten by stronger players.
Safonov held his place
Failing to relaunch the competition for the starting place against Lucas Chevalier, it is fair to note that Matfey Safonov had a good outing on Saturday evening. For his first match of the season in Paris, the Russian goalkeeper had to work against Esteban Lepaul in the first period. A hell of a save… Continuing the action, PSG opened the scoring. Decisive. After the break, the Bretons left him alone, unable to approach his goal. The work had already been done. A performance that will do the former Kazan goalkeeper a lot of good, that’s for sure.
Lepaul, a hell of a player
Certainly, he did not have the opportunity to add a ninth goal to his collection. It’s not for lack of trying, however. Possessed from Angers last summer, Esteban Lepaul showed all his qualities on Saturday evening, those of a very good striker in our championship. Without a great Safonov, it was he who would have opened the scoring in the first period (28th). Just before, it took a famous return from Pacho to prevent him from taking a cross from the Jordanian Moussa Al-Tamari (27th). In a difficult context and with serious clients, the native of Auxerre is one of Rennes’ satisfactions.
CLAW STRIKES
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Samba and Jacquet as gravediggers
Certainly, it was already 2-0 in favor of the locals at that time. And besides, he had worked hard to ensure that the bill was no bigger than that. Brice Samba, however, was completely torn on the third Parisian goal. On a back pass, the French international goalkeeper took his time, without too much opposing pressure. And he found it interesting to give a golden ball to… Bradley Barcola. Behind, Mayulu just had to find “Kvara”, who didn’t ask any questions. A blunder which definitively buried the hopes of Stade Rennes on Saturday evening, at the Parc… In this context, the expulsion of Jérémy Jacquet in the 74th minute, at 3-0, was an anecdote. We can nevertheless emphasize that this second yellow, a big sole on João Neves, was avoidable… In addition, it involved the implosion of the end of the match…
Barcola, failed again
You have the right to think that it is hard to place Bradley Barcola in the clutches, to say that some Rennes would have more deserved to be there. Not wrong. They don’t have the talent of the former Lyonnais. We cannot blame him for a lack of desire or investment. He is dangerous. He creates opportunities. But in the last gesture, Barcola is going through a bad period. Always one too many controls, one superfluous touch, one inappropriate gesture. At least he was involved in the third Parisian goal. But in a match like this and with his qualities, Bradley Barcola could not just have scored, he should have shaken the Samba nets. Failed again.
