Return to action for the Parisians after a short week of rest following the victory won in Normandy against Le Havre last weekend. On the lawn of the Parc des Princes, Paris Saint-Germain welcomed FC Nantes under the new coach, Jocelyn Gourvenec, during the 15th day of Ligue 1. On the one hand, the Canaries wanted to be full of confidence under the leadership of their new leader. On the other hand, the Rouge et Bleu had to be reassuring before a crucial meeting against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League. For this shock, Luis Enrique decided to leave several offensive elements on the bench such as Randal Kolo Muani, Gonçalo Ramos, Marco Asensio and Ousmane Dembélé (yet suspended against BVB). Thus, the Spanish coach decided to offer his chance to Bradley Barcola, starting for the ninth time this season in Ligue 1, to the great happiness of his team since the former Lyonnais was one of the architects of the Parisian success this Saturday evening (2-1): “Of course he’s ripe. I said it from the start. I am very happy with all the players, especially Bradley. He is a player who has this natural ability to overflow. He has very good qualities, he has a good attitude. He is a player for the future. But the future is tomorrow. I think he feels our confidence”had already affirmed Luis Enrique, at a press conference on Friday.
Words which seem to have brought luck to Bradley Barcola since the tactician native of Gijon offered him a start and 79 full minutes against FC Nantes. And one thing is certain: the 21-year-old winger paid him back by being impactful in this meeting won by PSG. However, in recent weeks, the young player was at the center of criticism, due to his failed entry against Newcastle in the Champions League (1-1) during which he missed several valuable opportunities: “It is a very clear bet for the club when we are going to look for such a young player, international U23, with a great personality and quality to overflow. He has quite a few minutes of play in a team like ours. He embodies the present and the future. This (Saturday) evening, he was superb, the most decisive player in the one-on-one, with an exceptional goal. He had a great match. There is nothing new regarding Bradley. I am very happy for him”the Parisian coach then repeated in a press conference after the match.
A goal and a great activity!
Starting on the left side of the Parisian attack, Bradley Barcola produced a fantastic offensive performance, making numerous quick and clean breakthroughs, thus making the difference in PSG’s game. Shortly before the break, the Bleuets international was rewarded for his good first period by playing a one-two with Vitinha to open his foot and deceive Alban Lafont (41st, 1-0). His first achievement in the Parisian jersey which does him the greatest good. But this good performance and this start meant that Randal Kolo Muani started on the bench. Coming into play and a heroic scorer, the former Frankfurter preferred to congratulate Barcola by accepting the coach’s decision: “There is competition, we are in a big club, it will be up to me to prove myself. It’s the coach who decides, Barcola had a very good match, there are a lot of qualities on the bench. There were a lot of downs, then it was up to me to raise my head, I slowly raised it.”affirmed the French international who did not take his benching badly.
In the second half, the native of Villeurbanne achieved new dazzling performances by overtaking Marcus Coco. He even came close to a double but his dive on the left flank ended in the narrow net of the Nantes goalkeeper (59th). The former OL protégé also tried to find his teammates, notably Kylian Mbappé, behind when they were unmarked. A complete, regular and interesting offensive copy, until his exit to replace Marco Asensio (79th): “It was a pretty tough win, it was really compact. They defended very well. It was complicated to score this first goal. Getting that goal hurt us. But we didn’t give up and we scored at the end of the match, it was deserved and we are happy. It was important to win this match. The coach said we had to work tactically in relation to the match that came next. It was important to us to win. I think we managed to do what he asked of us, on the sides and in the center. I was waiting for this goal, it will do me good. I told myself that I’m shooting straight. It’s a source of pride, I was really waiting for it”declared Bradley Barcola after the meeting at the microphone of Alexandre Ruiz on Free Ligue 1.
