The PSG barely had to mess up
to beat Olympique de Marseille in the great classic of Ligue 1 that was played at the Vélodrome. Mauricio Pochettino's men won 0-2, thanks to goals from Kylian Mbappé, superlative in the first half, and Mauro Icardi who signed a great header with hardly any angle. Neymar, who did not start in the starting eleven, put the spark and verticality in the final stretch of the game.
PSG started the match with the great absence in the starting eleven of the Brazilian Neymar because of the gastroenteritis problems that he dragged in the 48 hours before the game, so coach Mauricio Pochettino had to rely on the trident made up of Mbappé- Say Maria-Icardi.
It did not seem that they would miss him on the field of play since in minute 8 they managed to open the scoring with great goal from French star Kylian Mbappé. The 22-year-old Frenchman finished a book kick started by Verrati and the Argentine Di María. His sheer speed looked better than ever as on the left wing
However, after the early goal, ‘Fideo’ Di María had to withdraw from the pitch due to muscle problems in the thigh probably produced by the sudden counterattack that they signed minutes before. The big question is whether he will be available for the Champions League match against FC Barcelona on February 16.
PSG had little to wait to transform the second and final goal of the match. The always opportunist Mauro Icardi scored a great header at 23 'when he barely had a shot angle. The Parisian team with little effort went to rest with a comfortable income that allowed them to manage the game to their liking.
PSG began putting the direct as soon as the second half began and warned in another play of Mbappe, which was undoubtedly omnipresent in all plays of the team attack. In addition, in defensive tasks he was impeccable, something that Pochettino thanked from the bench.
[+] See the summary and the goals of the match:
Marseille followed the same trend as in the first half. Control of the ball but with little depth to bring danger to the goal of Sergio Rico. Already in 65 ' Pochettino gave entrance to Neymar and the Brazilian only needed a minute to generate danger.
In the final stretch of the game, Marseille blamed the great physical wear and tear and the Neymar-Mbappé duo could connect in several, although luckily for the locals they did not see the door again. However, in the discount Payet saw the red after a hard tackle on Verrati.