PSG offered a new show of force on Tuesday during their trip to the Bay Arena. After correcting Atalanta Bergamo (4-0) then winning in the den of Barça (2-1), the reigning European champion indeed crushed Bayer Leverkusen at home (7-2).
If the tone was set from the first minutes of the match thanks to Pacho's first goal in Parisian colors, the capital club was left with a small scare in the heart of the first period. In just over ten minutes, PSG conceded two penalties and saw the referee exclude one of their players. The fault each time lies with Illia Zabarnyi.
Guilty of a clumsy hand while he was in a duel with Claudio Echeverri, the Ukrainian central defender, surprised by a long ball behind his back, was overtaken by Christian Kofane and committed the irreparable in the position of last defender. And if the first penalty was missed by Alejandro Grimaldo, Bayer Leverkusen, reduced to ten a few minutes earlier for a bad gesture by their captain Robert Andrich, was able to equalize, without this ultimately having any consequences.
“It’s even worse”
However, these two errors raise questions, all the more so after the complicated evening experienced by the former Bournemouth player against Strasbourg on Friday. After being moved in the duels by Joaquin Panichelli, Illia Zabarnyi, recruited for some 63 million euros this summer, this time exposed his shortcomings in his coverage. And for Laure Boulleau, it’s starting to mean a lot…
“What's a little annoying about Zabarnyi is that it seems like he refuses to lose duels, she commented on the Canal Football Club microphone, at half-time of the match. Sometimes you lose your duel, you have to give up at worst. Doing that is even worse. You can still get a red one. He saw that the guy was ahead of him, at a certain point, no longer looking for a physical fight. Either way, the duel is lost. I think he's a bad loser. »
