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French champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) inaugurated their 2022-23 Champions League campaign with a high-octane clash against Italian giants Juventus at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday night (September 6).
The hosts endured some nervy moments over the course of the Group H fixture but ultimately came out on top against Juventus, securing a hard-fought 2-1 win. Scoring a brace, Kylian Mbappe emerged as the hero of the game, while Weston McKennie found the back of the net for the visitors.
Playing in front of a packed Parc des Princes, PSG started the game with a spring in their step. Just five minutes into the game, Neymar brilliantly set up Mbappe with a lobbed through ball and the Frenchman hit the back of the net.
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In the 19th minute, Massimiliano Allegri’s side created their first real chance of the game. Arkadiusz Milik directed a thumping header towards the Parisian goal, but goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was in no mood to be beaten. He made an excellent save to deny the Pole, and Sergio Ramos was there to clear the ball out of harm’s way.
PSG responded to Juventus’ effort with a free-flowing move of their own in the 22th minute, and unlike the visitors, they also secured the end product. From the center of the Old Lady’s box, Mbappe dispatched an unstoppable strike to find the bottom-left corner of Mattia Perin’s goal.
Four minutes into the second half, Nuno Mendes found Neymar with a sharp cutback. The Brazilian had a go at goal from the edge of the box, but Perin was equal to his effort and denied him with a clever save.
A couple of minutes later, Mbappe found himself in a promising situation on the right side of the Juventus box. Instead of squaring off to Neymar, who was open on the left side, the Frenchman went for goal himself and found the side-netting. The Brazilian was left fuming with his teammate's decision-making.
In the 53rd minute, McKennie pulled one back for Juventus, getting on the end of a well-worked set-piece routine. The goal rattled PSG’s superstars and they conceded another almost immediately. Dusan Vlahovic’s header was saved by Donnarumma and McKennie could not keep his follow-up effort on target. In the 81st minute, Manuel Locatelli had a couple of opportunities to score the equalizer, but both his efforts were denied by his compatriot Donnarumma.
Having been under the cosh for quite a while, PSG got themselves back up again in the final stretch of the game. Had it not been for Perin’s excellent save, Danilo would have extended his side’s advantage in the 89th minute.
It was not a commanding display by the Parisians, with a couple of key players failing to live up to the billing. However, given their first-half performance, the win was certainly well deserved. Now without further ado, let’s take a quick look at three PSG players who performed and two who were not up to the mark against Juventus on Tuesday:
Performed: Marco Verratti
Central midfielder Marco Verratti did not put a step wrong in the clash against the Bianconeri. He was composed on the ball, circulated it with precision, looked for holes in Juve’s defense, and held his own in battles. Without him pulling strings in the middle, the Parisians would have had a considerably tougher time getting the better of the visitors.
On Tuesday night, the Italy international completed a whopping 109 out of 112 passes (97.3% accuracy), made a key pass, and completed both attempted dribbles. He also won 11 of 13 ground duels, attempted six tackles, winning four, and made two interceptions.
Underperformed: Gianluigi Donnarumma
PSG goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma made a few excellent saves in the game, bravely denying Milik and Locatelli’s double effort. However, he was far from infallible. It was his judgemental error that allowed Juventus to find their way back into the game.
Allegri’s men won a corner in the 53rd minute and played a short pass to Filip Kostic, who then whipped in a cross inside the Parisian box. Donnarumma rushed off his line in an attempt to collect it but the delivery swerved away from him, catching him in no-man’s-land. With the Italian out of position, all McKennie had to do was keep his header on target.
In addition to committing the error that led to the Bianconeri’s only goal, Donnarumma misplaced all three of his attempted long balls.
Performed: Neymar
PSG ace Neymar has started the season in the best possible manner, scoring and creating goals left, right, and center. His confidence and flamboyance were for all to see in Tuesday’s victory over Juve.
The Brazil skipper played a delicious lobbed through ball for Mbappe in the fifth minute, which led to the hosts’ opener. The weight and placement of the delivery were nothing short of world-class. In addition to the brilliant assist, Neymar made four key passes, completed two of three attempted dribbles, won six ground duels, and had two shots on target.
Neymar, who has arguably been Les Parisiens’ best player this season, has now scored nine goals and claimed seven assists in eight matches across competitions.
Underperformed: Nuno Mendes
While right-back Achraf Hakimi played a crucial role in PSG’s win, Nuno Mendes failed to make an active contribution. He made a couple of good runs and made a key pass (Neymar failed to capitalize), but his overall gameplay left a lot to be desired. The young Portuguese was weak in duels, gave the ball away cheaply, and was caught out of position a couple of times.
At the Parc des Princes, Mendes misplaced all three of his crosses, lost eight of 11 duels, ceded possession 12 times, and committed two fouls. He was also dribbled past on a couple of occasions.
Performed: Kylian Mbappe
PSG’s crown jewel Kylian Mbappe scored two excellent goals to ensure his team enjoyed a winning start to the 2022-23 Champions League campaign. In the fifth minute, his thunderous volley breached Perin’s resistance for the first time. Seventeen minutes later, the 2018 World Cup winner doubled his tally, playing a little one-two with Hakimi before applying an unstoppable finish.
In addition to scoring the match-winning brace, Mbappe completed a dribble, won six ground duels, and drew five fouls.
The brace against Juventus took Mbappe’s goal tally to nine for the season in only six games. No player in Europe (top five leagues and cup competitions) has scored more goals than the France international thus far.
