Ligue 1, Round 16, 17/12/23
A stoppage-time equaliser from Jonathan David cancelled out Kylian Mbappé’s penalty to earn Lille a deserved point against the Ligue 1 leaders.
Ousmane Dembélé and Edon Zhegrova breathed life into the game during the opening stages with some impressive dribbling on display. Both wide forwards would have opportunities to give their team the lead too but failed to threaten either Tenas or Chevalier in their respective goals. Vitinha was the first player to really test a keeper with a fiercely hit effort from a tight angle but Chevalier was more than equal to it.
PSG had their fair of share of possession and started to cause some problems for Lille towards the end of the first half. However, overall, the first half was rather cagey with neither team either able to stamp their authority on the game in an attacking sense. Consequently, both teams went into the break goalless.
The second half began in a similar fashion with both teams venturing forward and threatening to cause danger but lacking conviction in the final third. Angel Gomes became heavily involved and had a couple of opportunities when Lille were on the front foot but still failed to test Tenas who didn’t face a shot on target in the first half.
PSG were awarded a penalty in the 63rd minute as Diakité lunged in from behind Lucas Hernandez to attempt to win the ball but failed to touch any of the ball, taking all of his man in the process. After wishing Lucas Chevalier good luck, Mbappé made no mistake from the spot dispatching the penalty with aplomb to give Les Parisens the lead. This was the France captain’s 50th goal of the calendar year.
Yazici thought he had levelled the game for Les Dogues as he fired the ball into back of Tenas’ net but the offside flag preserved PSG’s lead. The Turkish international just strayed offside in what was his first major involvement in the game. He then had a good chance which was created by Zhegrova again, but the shot was deflected behind for a corner.
Les Dogues pressed for an equaliser in the final 10 minutes of the game with a couple of hairy moments for the PSG defence to deal with. One of those being Jonathan David being played one-on-one with Tenas, but the Spaniard was out quickly to parry his effort.
Jonathan David would soon have a second opportunity which he took. Ounas’ deflected shot was parried by Tenas and fell perfectly to him to head home. The Canadian continued his terrific scoring form to gain Lille a deserved point.
PSG Player Ratings:
Arnau Tenas – 5
Marquinhos – 5
Danilo Pereira – 5
Lucas Hernandez – 4
Vitinha – 5
Warren Zaïre-Emery – 5
Manuel Ugarté – 5
Kang-in Lee – 6: Creatively, Lee was PSG’s most dangerous player. The South Korean international was instrumental in launching PSG onto the counter and playing the key pass in the final third whilst playing a fluid position which required him to play a number of roles.
Ousmane Dembélé – 6: Similarly to the battle between Hernandez and Zhegrova, Dembélé caused havoc for Ismaily who was unable to keep up with the dancing feet and pace of the French international. The former Barcelona forward was largely involved in anything positive PSG produced in an otherwise tepid affair.
Kylian Mbappé – 6
Bradley Barcola – 5
Lille Player Ratings –
Lucas Chevalier – 5
Bafodé Diakité – 5
Lenny Yoro – 6
Alexsandro – 5
Ismaily – 4
Nabil Bentaleb – 5
Benjamin André – 5
Edon Zhegrova – 6: Lucas Hernandez struggled with the space afforded to Zhegrova on the left flank and the Kosovan profited from it. His tricky feet and ability to drift inside were the most dangerous aspects of Lille’s attacking phases of play.
Angel Gomes – 5
Gabriel Gudmundsson – 5
Yusuf Yazıcı – 4: The Turkish international failed to really have any major influence on the game playing as a lone striker. Other than putting the ball in the back of the net but being adjudged offside and a late chance which was defected, it was a quiet night for the unorthodox attacker before being replaced by Jonathan David.
GFFN | Liam Wraith
