Goals: Paris Saint Germain – Reims -Played on 01/29/2023
Paris Saint-Germain started its campaign in the second round of the French League, with a draw against its guest, Reims, with a goal for each of them, today, Sunday, in the 20th round of the competition.
The Brazilian star, Neymar Jr., scored the Paris goal in the 51st minute, and Florian Balogun equalized for the guests in the 96th minute.
Despite the draw, Saint-Germain continued to be at the top of the league, raising its score to 48 points, while Reims raised its score to 26 points in eleventh place.
The Parisian team performed disastrous in the first half, and had it not been for fate and its Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, the guests would have advanced by a comfortable margin of goals.
Reims players threatened the Parisian goal from the first seconds, and the quartet of Matosiwa, Eto’o, Balogun, and Phillips missed chances throughout the entire half.
On the other hand, the stars of the Parisian team, Mbappe, Neymar, and Messi, completely disappeared, and the start of the two full-backs, Ashraf Hakimi and Juan Bernat, was completely disrupted.
Parisian coach Christophe Galte moved between halftime to save this disastrous situation, as Marco Verratti participated in the place of the Portuguese Vitinia.
The first quarter of an hour of the second half was full of excitement, as Neymar scored the first goal for Saint-Germain after a shot by Messi that changed direction in Hakimi’s body, to separate Neymar, and dodge the goalkeeper, before hitting the net.
The Parisian team and its fans in the stands of the Princes’ Park were not very happy with this goal, as the referee awarded a penalty kick to the Reims team after being obstructed by Brazilian defender Marquinhos.
However, video technology completed the series of excitement by canceling the penalty kick, and indicating to the arena referee that Italian midfielder Marco Verratti should be expelled after a violent intervention against Eto’o, the Reims player.
PSG completed the meeting with ten players, and its coach Galtier was forced to completely change the midfield system to protect the attacking trio, as Danilo Pereira and Renato Sanchez replaced Soler and Fabian Ruiz.
Despite the numerical shortage, Saint-Germain approached his opponent’s goal with two dangerous chances for Mbappe and Sergio Ramos, and Ashraf Hakimi scored, but he was in an offside position.
On the other hand, Florian Balogun continued to disturb the Parisian defense and threatened Donnarumma with a powerful shot next to the right scissors.
Reims players rushed forward, seeking to equalize, and Mbappe and Messi almost punished them with a second goal, but the duo’s attempts passed safely past goalkeeper Yvan Diouf.
In the last seconds, Van Bergen hit a dangerous ball next to Donnarumma’s right post, after which the referee counted 5 minutes of wasted allowance, which the guests took advantage of with a fatal goal, giving them a deserved draw.
Substitutes Ziri Emery and Renato Sanchez handled the ball recklessly in the middle of the field, so that Balogun launched himself into the goal, and dribbled past Donnarumma before scoring the equalizer, to give his team a valuable point from the stronghold of the Parisian giants.
