Paris Saint-Germain did not exist on Wednesday against Newcastle. Kylian Mbappé and his team logically lost their second match in the group stage of the Champions League (4-1).
It’s a collective disaster for Paris Saint-Germain. Whether it was Luis Enrique’s initial choice on his system and team composition, or the quality of the performance of the Parisian players on the field, nothing worked. Or almost. And it is therefore logical that Newcastle won at home (4-1) in a fiery atmosphere, for the first Champions League match of the Magpies at St James’Park for twenty-one years. For PSG, we will have to forget this poor performance and move on.
Luis Enrique perhaps thought he had achieved a masterstroke by deciding to switch from a 4-3-3 system to a 4-2-4 at kick-off time. But without a game organizer like Vitinha, the choice of the Spanish tactician immediately proved to be a big mistake. Overtaken in all areas of play, mainly in midfield, the Parisians quickly conceded a first goal, the work of Miguel Almiron (1-0, 17th). Despite possession of the ball largely in their favor in the first half, the visitors were unable to do anything in the face of the opposition’s will and positive aggressiveness.
A historic defeat under the QSI era
And this was confirmed again when the locals scored their second goal, this time from Dan Burn with an angry header (2-0, 39th). Picking up, Paris returned to the locker room with two goals in their bag before conceding a third five minutes after the restart on a goal from Sean Longstaff (3-0, 50th). Almost anecdotally, Lucas Hernandez’s first goal in Parisian colors (3-14, 56th) will not prevent Newcastle from regaining control with a fourth and final goal. A missile into the top corner from Fabian Schar which ended up capsizing the audience at St James’Park (4-1, 90th+1).
The defeat is therefore logical for PSG which concedes its biggest defeat in the Champions League group stage since the takeover of QSI. Invisible, Kylian Mbappé was not there. Still as imprecise in the last gesture, Ousmane Dembélé disappointed again. Author of yet another mistake in C1, Marquinhos has once again shown his bad side. The bad points only concern these Parisian elements. Randal Kolo Muani and to a lesser degree, Gonçalo Ramos, can be cited. But we must also congratulate the Newcastle players who have shown that they will have to be counted on for the future. Parisian qualification for the round of 16 may be more complicated than expected.
