Ligue 1 – 23rd day – Paris recovers against Nîmes

After the defeat in Lorient this weekend, and the victory of Lille in the early evening which took six points ahead of the lead, Paris couldn’t afford to lose a single point against Nîmes. The result is there, Paris wins, but does not yet show itself in a strong position. Opposite, the red lantern of Ligue 1 did not dismantle despite a large score. But it was the Parisians who dominated the meeting. Pochettino blamed his players for a lack of speed in attack against Lorient and the players understood it. From the outset, the Ile-de-France residents kept the ball and took advantage of the slightest mistake to get to the goal. Sarabia took advantage of a call from Mbappé to sneak and shoot but the goalkeeper was there to push back for a corner (4th). Mbappé and Kean had many shots but not a single one found the back of the net. It was not until an error from the Nîmes defense thatAngel Di Maria intercepts a pass and goes alone to goal, opening the scoring (18th, 1-0). While the Crocos could not get the ball out of their camp, pressed high by the Parisians, the opportunities were not lacking for the home team. A new header from Dagba crashed into the crossbar (23rd). It is ultimately that of Pablo Sarabia who came to widen the gap for PSG, on a superb cross from Di Maria at the penalty spot (34th, 2-0). The Nîmes responded a few minutes later by obtaining their biggest opportunity, on a header from Fomba, which Rico managed to stop with a reflex stop.

Back from the locker room, the Parisians were more timid and the Nîmes occasions became more dangerous. A single strike in the first period against eight during the first twenty minutes of the second. The reigning French champions suffered but Rico was in great shape after several criticisms against Lorient. With strikes from Ripart or heads from Briançon, the Gardois took advantage of a relaxation in Paris but did not score. And once again, it took little for Paris to widen the gap even further. A pass from Leandro Paredes to Kylian Mbappé, who wrapped his ball perfectly in the skylight to seal the fate of Nîmes (68th, 3-0). The two teams do not move in the standings, Paris remains 3rd and Nîmes last.

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The winner: Di Maria, still there

Scorer then passer, Di Maria was in all the good Parisian shots this Wednesday night against Nîmes. Aligned on the right side, it was in midfield that we found him the most. And as a good player that he is, he was able to anticipate the error of the Nîmes defense by cutting a pass to go straight to goal and cross his shot in the small left net (18th). It was a quarter of an hour later that he showed his quality of pass by crossing at the penalty spot for Sarabia, who had only to put his head to score the second goal. Another very good match for the Argentinian.

The loser: The defense of Nîmes to the west