5 is the rating given by the FM editorial team to Gianluigi Donnarumma after the convincing success (5-2) of PSG against AS Monaco at the opening of the 13th day of Ligue 1. And for good reason. If the capital club, more than ever leader of the championship, largely won against a direct competitor for the final title, the last Italian rampart offered it a contrasting evening. Capable of the best on his line – with several decisive saves (11th, 45th, 47th, 90th) as well as the worst in his restarts, the former AC Milan goalkeeper has thus relaunched the debate on his kicking game. Symbol of this persistent fault, the native of Castellammare di Stabia, guilty of a terrible restart error, allowed the Monegasques to equalize through Takumi Minamino (22nd).
Even more infuriating, this was the only pass missed by the person concerned out of the nine attempted in the first period. A blunder sufficient to cool the Parc des Princes, ultimately warmed up by the offensive realism of its protégés. A few moments after the meeting, the Nazionale goalkeeper, under contract until June 2026 with the Rouge et Bleu, was quick to send a message to Parisian supporters on his social networks. “Important home victory and my apologies for the mistake. Focus now on the Champions League next week”. Present at a press conference, Luis Enrique did not want to overwhelm the man who is regularly criticized for his kicking game.
Gianluigi Donnarumma’s kicking game is still worrying!
“Football is a sport made of mistakes. The problem is that when it’s an attacker or a midfielder it’s not serious, when it’s a goalkeeper it’s much more visible. The most important thing for me is that my players achieve on the pitch what I ask of them. Gigio was superb. He got up after a mistake. I make mistakes in every match. I am delighted with his performance”, assured the 53-year-old Spaniard in this regard to journalists. However, before decisive matches against Newcastle next Tuesday, or even Dortmund on December 13, these recurring failures are cause for concern. Lately, The Parisian underlined, in this sense, that Donnarumma touched more balls since the arrival of the former Barça coach. Note, in fact, that the 24-year-old Italian touches nine more balls per match than last season in Ligue 1 (35.2, compared to 26.9), while attempting eight more passes (32.7 compared to 24 ,2). Enough to explain these culpable errors? Not entirely.
Asked about the case of the 1m96 right-hander, Daniel Riolo brought an additional element to this raging debate. “The idea is expressed poorly. It’s not his kicking game that’s bad, it’s the time he takes to get the kicking game going.”first judged the editorialist in After Foot on RMCbefore adding: “the origin of the problem is Real. Against Real, is it the kicking game the problem or the time it takes? It’s the time he takes that allows Benzema to get into him. Every time, the problem when we see him raise is the time he takes”. A guilty clumsiness that Gianluigi Donnarumma will, whatever happens, quickly have to erase to reach a new milestone in his career and definitely gain unanimous support. In the meantime, the name of Keylor Navas will always be mentioned…
