Nice bitter Messi’s Ballon d’Or party

As usual throughout the season, although today without being able to save the furniture in the final section, PSG continues to give the sensation of being a compendium of stars subject to individual talent to win games rather than a group that aspires to win the Champions League. Today, against Nice, Pochettino’s men could not go from a draw to zero in a match that again left very bad feelings for what lies ahead in the coming weeks.

Under a thunderous reception to Messi, who offered his seventh Ballon d’Or before the match, as well as Donnarumma the award for best goalkeeper, PSG wanted to distance themselves even more from their direct rivals at the top of the table, among which is the Nice, a team bought by Ineos that threatens to be an aspiring snatch, more in the short term than in the long term, the endless hegemony that the Parisian ensemble has established in France. Ebimbe was the great novelty of Pochettino in the eleven and, without Neymar, injured, Di María took up his role on the pitch. The talented Gourii, one of the best players in Ligue 1 today, was caught by surprise on the Nice bench.

PSG knows that they can win Ligue 1 at half gas, but not if they can give them to reach the Champions League. The Parisians have gotten used to playing very slow-paced matches in which they hardly generate chances and in which they try to decide in the final stretch by an individual detail. Today, against Nice, he was no exception, as he went into halftime drawing zero and generating only a shot from Mbappé that Walter Benítez took brilliantly.

Galtier, who already knew what it was like to beat PSG in his field with Lille last season (in the end he was champion), took the game to his field, giving possession to a team that suffered from Verratti’s substitution and that barely managed to will find Messi, Di María or Mbappé in the rival field. Before the break, Donnarumma made the night stop to celebrate the Yashin trophy after repelling Delort a spectacular shot with the head after a good cross from Lotomba.

The emotion that the game had lacked in the first half contrasted with the start of the second, a whole roller coaster of emotions, although without a goal. PSG had the clearest opportunity of the match in Di María’s boots, in a heads-up from Fideo that Walter Benítez took out of him in a miraculous way. For their part, Nice forgave a play that you can’t forgive against PSG. Dolberg finished off a great cross from Boudaoui on the right wing into an empty goal, but his header crashed into the pole in an incomprehensible way. It was easier to get her in than to miss her, but football has these things. Mbappé emulated Dolberg a minute later and squandered an alien pass from Messi between four rivals, sending his shot inexplicably to the side of the net like Dolberg before.

This time, the final minutes were not Pochettino’s potion Today’s draw against Nice is the umpteenth warning of the season to the coach that football is won beyond individualities. Pochettino is in December and must find a style that will bring him closer to victory before the eighth of the Champions League, since, otherwise, the dream of the European Cup will be quite difficult for the Parisian team.