In San Siro,
Supposed to validate its rise in power after the temper received in Newcastle (4-1) at the beginning of October, PSG fell on a bone, and 80,000 furious in the stands, Tuesday evening, against AC Milan. Consumed with intensity, the Parisians conceded their second defeat in four Champions League matches, both away, and their qualification for the 8th is still far from assured.
It’s raining dollars and second-hand goods in Milan. In a San Siro stadium faithful to its reputation as hell on earth for visitors, it doesn’t matter whether you are the great Milan of the 1990s-2000s or an average team (and struggling at the start of the season), like the It’s like Pioli’s, the public is there to give you wings and cut off those of your opponent. This is what happened from the kick-off for the Parisians and their goalkeeper Donnarumma, greeted by showers of insults and the throwing of fake dollars to make him pay for his departure in the Paris of the Qataris, taken by the throat from the start.
It took a bit of clumsiness (4th, 6th, 8th) on the Milan side to avoid the worst, before Milan Skriniar, well found by a deflection of Marquinhos’ head from a corner, temporarily cooled the Milanese cathedral (0-1, 9th). Oh, not very long, three minutes, time for Leao to equalize with a nice return after a first save from Gigio (12th). At the end, the score could (should) have been much bigger on both sides at the break as the opportunities rained down on both goals.
We have a very big problem in defense! If Paris was not left out in terms of opportunities, like this shot from Dembouz on the Maignan bar, PSG’s problem has not changed one iota since the start of the season: it concedes way too many ‘opportunities. And Luis Enrique has beautiful us play the mandolin through press conferences, he knows it as well as we do. In addition to being as fast as a sloth on an antidepressant, Milan Skriniar is also unremarkable in aerial duels, for which Paris will pay upon returning from the locker room, with a header catapulted by Giroud (50th), who won his fight with the former Inter Milan.
And up front it’s not much better… Often criticized, rightly so, for his lack of efficiency since he donned the Parisian tunic, we cannot deny Ousmane Dembélé for trying a lot of things and creating a huge mess in the opposing defenses. This Tuesday, the same could not be said of his attacking colleagues Kylian Mbappé and Randal Kolo Muani. If the first is getting better and better from an athletic point of view as the season progresses, his performance at San Siro was discreet at best, worrying at worst. As for Kolo Muani, the boy has been painful to see for too long now.