A fortress it is as the Parc Des Princes proved to be too much for third place Bordeaux as Paris St Germain now sit comfortably 4 points behind 1st place Olympique de Marseille in Ligue 1, winning an exciting 3-0 match against the southwestern club.
Paris looked to be struggling to find goals prior to this match as their late winner against APOEL in the Champions League was not as impressive as it should have been, but the well rested squad had come back to Paris with a hunger to score and collect points as they did tonight. Laurent Blanc looked to make an impressive point against his old club, whom he won the title with back in 2009.
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Jean Christophe Baheback started centrally in replacement of Edinson Cavani who was suspended last weekend against Lens for his unique “shotgun” celebration – this also meant that Zlatan Ibrahimovic would have to be in hopes to make a return which he did not. Baheback created some chances as well as received others from his attacking wingers and midfielders, but surely is not on the same caliber as Zlatan and Cavani.
The wonderful thing about the squad without a central attacker, is that Paris can still score without their natural central forwards – the first chance of the night came in a terrible miss by Marco Verrati who tried to control a loose ball 2 meters away from an open box, putting to much power and lifting the ball over top. As most of the action occurred in the first half an hour, not including goals, Paris and Bordeaux were both succumbed to playing with 10 men.
Photo : C.Gavelle/PSG
First, full back Gregory Van Der Wiel was sent off for a late and reckless challenge, but by no means red card worthy. His cleats were exposed and his tackle with mistimed, but a firm warning as well as a yellow would have sufficed – at Paris’ advantage, the same ill timing of a tackle was done by Andre Biyogo Poko of Bordeaux and the two clubs went level.
Although the strictness of the referee was questionable at times, his decision making at the advantage of Paris paid off when Verrati was tackled in the box on his way to score a goal, giving Paris a penalty which Lucas Moura buried easily capping off the first half. As the second half went under way, ruthless defending from both sides saw the wide eyed ref taking notice, and again to the disadvantage of “Les Girondins” as they gave away another penalty, which Lucas once against buried.
After a lay off since week 7, Ezequiel Lavazzi was substituted and added to the score line in the 81st minute with a brilliant left footed knock behind goalkeeper Ažbe Jug to shut the opposition down for good. Bordeaux had no answer for Paris in the last 10 minutes, playing casually and without much of a counter attack. The quality of the squad within injury, suspensions and rest shows that Paris, if mentally they are prepared to triumph, can continue their victory streak successfully and with plenty of power.
Revons Plus Grand!