Thanks to a doubling of Di Maria and a goal from Mbappé, back from injury, the leader of Paris has dominated, for the opening of the 10th day of Ligue 1, Nice reduced to nine in the last quarter of an hour.
Neymar hurt? Mbappé and Cavani back from injury but stationed on the bench? No worries, Angel Di Maria continues to do the job and, as in Nice where he scored a double (4-1) Friday on the 10th day of the Championship of France, to pull the Paris SG up.
Before moving to Bruges on Tuesday for the third day of the Champions League, Thomas Tuchel has a certainty: he can count on his Angel Di Maria. Author of a double on the Côte d'Azur (15th and 22nd), the now ex-Argentine international (he has not been called in selection since the defeat of Albiceleste in the semifinals of Copa America this summer ) was the driving force behind the Paris victory. In two class actions, he extinguished the Allianz Riviera until it revives and does not begin to hope with the reduction of the gap by Ignatius Ganago for Nice (1-2, 67th).
Flamboyant in the first half, Di Maria proved that at age 31 he was far from finished. His second goal in particular was a delicious lob of finesse and skill while he was eccentric on the side (2-0, 21st). Subsequently, after the break, he sometimes fell back a bit, often keeping the ball. Or, as in the 60th minute, when he tried a direct corner.
But this way of being shows that he is confident. And Tuchel needs a player of this caliber with complete confidence. Because Choupo Moting and Icardi, same goalscorer, showed some limits. With this double, Di Maria, he now compiles four goals and two assists in Ligue 1, which must be added his double against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Cavani left on the bench
It also allowed Tuchel to manage its workforce. In Nice, the German technician left on the bench Edinson Cavani, who was touched last August 25 in Toulouse. With Kylian Mbappé, who was also injured in Toulouse before replaying a half-hour in Bordeaux on 28 September, then in Istanbul against Galatasaray three days later, and hurting himself again, Tuchel was more magnanimous. Because he saw his condition evolve satisfactorily on his return from selection.
"Kylian has had a full week of training," he told a press conference before the meeting. But it's not the same thing to do a session with eight or nine players and play a game. We must not play at 90%, we must be 100%. You have to be able to give everything with intensity. "
When Nice was only nine after the exclusions of Cyprien and Herelle, Tuchel has given ten minutes of play to the French star who had to withdraw for the meeting of the Blues Didier Deschamps before facing the Iceland and Turkey. Mbappé did not ask for so much. He took the opportunity to boost his statistics, with a goal (3-1, 88th), his second in L1 this season, and a decisive pass for Mauro Icardi (4-1, 90th + 1).
Paris strengthens its leading position, five lengths ahead of Nantes, which plays Saturday in Metz. For Nice, this lesson is like a stunt, coming just after the defeat in Nantes, precisely. Of course the PSG is much stronger, but the young team of Patrick Vieira did not show the usual way and still sneered, on the badly negotiated offside of the first goal for example or on both boxes red.
The new owner of the OGCN, the British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, came in person, was able to measure the gap with the powerful Qatari PSG.
