Despite dominating large periods of their Matchday 31 clash with Nice at the Parc des Princes on Friday night, Paris Saint-Germain suffered a cruel 3-1 loss - their first defeat of the Ligue 1 season.
Just three days after their one-all draw away to FC Nantes, Paris Saint-Germain looked to get back to winning ways, as Luis Enrique fielded a central defensive pairing of captain Marquinhos and Willian Pacho in front of goalkeeper Gigio Donnarumma. Achraf Hakimi started on the right side of the defence, with Nuno Mendes on the left. In midfield, Vitinha was supported by Fabian Ruiz and João Neves. Désiré Doué and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia started on the wings, with Ousmane Dembélé in the central striking role.
Paris showed their intentions early, monopolising possession high up the pitch in the opening minutes. But they were confronted with a well-organised Nice side, determined to leave the capital with at least one valuable point in their own quest to qualify for next season’s Champions League campaign. All the same, it was Paris fired the first shots in anger: Ousmane Dembélé forced Marcin Bulka into a first of several saves (11'). As the minutes ticked by, Les Rouge et Bleu increased the pressure and Dembélé, once again, beat Youssouf Ndayishimiye before seeing the Nice goalkeeper save his team with a fingertip save (24'). Paris kept pushing, and from the resulting corner, João Neves was denied once again by Bulka (25')!
Determined to thwart his former club's plans, the Aiglons‘ last line of defence then denied Khvicha Kvaratskhelia after the latter had got the better of Jonathan Clauss down the left (28’). Paris continued to attack in wave after wave, but Dembélé and then Désiré Doué couldn’t provide the final touches (31'). In contrast, the visitors made the most of their rare opportunities. Badredine Bouanani carried the ball up the middle before setting up Morgan Sanson in the box to side-foot home (0-1, 34'). Trailing against the run of play, Luis Enrique's men once again showed character to immediately push forward and, less than ten minutes later, equalise through Fabian Ruiz, who latched onto a splendid chip over the top of the defence from Dembélé (1-1, 41').
Unfortunately, Nice retook the lead shortly after the restart thanks to an acrobatic volley from Sanson from close range (1-2, 46'). Les Rouge et Bleu needed to find a way through a compact and disciplined Nice defence. Fabian managed to make the difference in the box with a good cross to Dembélé, but the latter was denied by an inspired Bulka (66'). The task got even more difficult after Youssouf Ndayishimiye scored with a powerful header to extend his side's lead (1-3, 70').
Despite the scenario of the game, the capital club did not give up and laid siege to a Nice side pinned back in their own penalty box. Driven on by the unwavering support of their fans, Paris threw everything at their opponents, but to no avail. Neither Gonçalo Ramos (90‘) nor Vitinha (90+1’) managed to beat the opposition goalkeeper. At the end of a match they dominated, Paris suffered their first Ligue 1 defeat of the season. But there's no time to dwell on this for the French champions, who head to London in the coming days to face Arsenal in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final on Tuesday 29 April at 21:00 CET. The countdown is on!