Without Neymar and Cavani, PSG make a statement in their win against Manchester United.
Missing two of their biggest stars in Neymar and Cavani, PSG went to Manchester United and beat United 2-0 and finally put a stamp of their own in the Champions League.
All the attention was on Kylian Mbappe as the young Frenchman was the only member of the front three to be fit for this clash. Mbappe scored PSG’s second, had a few brilliant runs, and caused a lot of problems for Manchester United’s back line but it was Angel Di Maria who became a notable standout when all was said and done.
Di Maria replaced the injured Neymar and unlike last season where he provided very little against Real Madrid, he had a very good game. The Argentine delivered the pass for Mbappe’s goal and was involved in a few controversial plays. It was no surprise that he was up for it facing his former team where things ended poorly under Louis van Gaal.
What set the whole thing off was a late shoulder bump by Ashley Young that sent Di Maria careening towards the stand where he collided hard with the stanchion. PSG players protested Young not getting carded and Di Maria quickly turned into the villain. He started getting heavily booed and even had a beer bottle tossed towards him as he attempted to take a corner.
When PSG broke the deadlock through Kimpembe, Di Maria had no problem celebrating and even had a few choice words for those who were booing up until that point.
It’s an important win for PSG. Manchester United are still a big team despite their lack of success these last few seasons. We’ve been here with PSG plenty of times where once they come up against actual competition in the Champions League, they falter. It looked like we were headed that way without Neymar and Cavani. But PSG stepped up and players like the aforementioned Di Maria, Julian Draxler, and Marco Verratti performed well. Having a manager in Thomas Tuchel doesn’t hurt either. He set up his team perfectly taking in account the absences and stifled United.
On the other hand, Manchester United’s bubble burst and PSG showed them that despite their resurgence under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, there is still a lot of work left to be done. United came into the tie slight favorites because of their recent run of form and the players missing from PSG. While they started the game off well, PSG took control and never relinquished it.
Part of that had to do with Jesse Lingard’s injury late in the first half. He was forced to come off and was replaced by Alexis Sanchez. Losing Lingard really hurt United because Alexis is a husk of his former self. He was a non-factor and Solskjaer made no excuses for him. The pace up front was one of the team’s strong points in their latest run and while Alexis is quick, it seemed like he didn’t know what to do once he got the ball and either gave it away or his crosses led nowhere. There are other United players one could point to but PSG were simply better than them.
The Parisian side now take a two-goal advantage back to France where they’ll look to finish off the tie and advance to the quarter-finals. With the performance they put in without Neymar and Cavani, PSG have to feel confident and will try to carry that confidence not only to the second leg but through the rest of the tournament.