At the Parc des Princes,
Kylian Mbappé may have left the match against Newcastle as a hero at the Parc des Princes thanks to his penalty goal, in fact, he did not really emerge from a match where he did not shine much. With a wet finger, we count a good half hour of crashing into Kieran Trippier by spamming the same dribble unnecessarily, three, four rough controls, passes and shots that are not really unforgettable and, all the same, two flashes of genius. The first, a backheel released at the last minute by Nick Pope following a careful serve from Achraf Hakimi. The second, a devastating hook on the right to clear the way and cross in front of the goal. Barcola just has to ensure, flat foot safety, to score. You speak… Pope was touched by grace, the former Lyonnais by bad luck.
The young winger, who entered on the hour mark, became in just half an hour the symbol of Parisian inefficiency in front of goal. Some figures for the road, what do you think? 36 crosses in total, 31 shots, 7 on target, 4.47 xG, all for a single pawn stuck on a generous penalty. Not great, really. As a fine player, Milan Skriniar wants above all to pay tribute to Newcastle for its heroic resistance. The Magpies “defended well, they played well and we didn’t have space to score, that caused us a big problem, but we have to do better.” A Melenchonist posture shared by Kylian Mbappé at the microphone of Canal +.
“In matches like this, at the end of the day, we have to ‘kill’, we had too many clear opportunities, we have to win the match by a wide margin. We have far too many actions for a Champions League match, and that’s not the structure, it’s not the organization, it’s us, the players, we have to be a lot more diligent in front of goal. »
Newcastle? “Their game is to have nothing”
Since it is not the structure’s fault, Luis Enrique is entitled to be satisfied with his team’s match and the mountain of chances it created. For him, it is a sort of crowning achievement of the total domination of his system. “We shot 15 times, we had four big chances, we did everything to win. »And as Paris did everything to win, well, Enrique, we have no right to criticize him. Unstoppable, on condition of agreeing to omit the starting eleven, the absence of a Ramos at the forefront, the still unclear role of Kolo Muani, the presence of Danilo alongside Skriniar in the slowest hinge of the history of this sport, the tenure of Fabian Ruiz, the changes which come too late… If the Spaniard concedes having experienced, between Isak’s goal in the 24th minute on a blunder by Donnarumma and Kyks’ equalization, a “scenario horror film”, it is also somewhat the fault of this one-design system which adapts very little to the adversary.
Quite the opposite of the latter who, a month and a half after stifling Paris at St James’ Park, showed off his “round back” range at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday evening. A tactical flexibility that Kylian Mbappé saw fit to minimize. “They have nothing. We knew it was their game to have nothing. » A little sentence lost in the middle of a rather fair analysis of the match tinged with a rather misplaced contempt when we took four in the muzzle in the first leg against the same team. It would be more accurate to say that Newcastle have nothing, except against PSG. The Magpies only scored five goals during this Champions League group stage. Everyone, against Paris. Scary statistic, right?
Dortmund as end-game boss
A stroke of luck for Mbappé and company, the Toon will no longer appear on his starry route. But the last match does not look any easier. The endgame boss is leader of group F and is called Borussia Dortmund, at Signal Iduna Park. With two points ahead of Newcastle and Milan, who will face each other in the north-east of England, qualification is not assured for the Parisians. But don’t panic, the general is calm. “You have to play with personality. The idea was that we were there today, now we have to work. You have to work in front of goal. We can’t afford to have so many actions and not score. If we play like that, with the same opportunities and we are more skillful, things will go well in Dortmund. » Said like that, it sounds simple. Almost as much as scoring a goal for Nick Pope.