Encouraging
Missing several first-team regulars, Paris Saint-Germain produced a promising performance in their opening ICC loss to Bayern Munich in Klagenfurt on Saturday.
Like in the warm-up matches against Sainte-Geneviève and Chambly, Thomas Tuchel started with a 3-5-2 formation on Saturday, with Lassana Diarra in central defence. In the absence of the club’s internationals, the new Paris coach put the young Rouge et Bleu squad through its paces against a Bayern side featuring several big names.
Far from overawed against the famous faces in the opposition camp, Les Parisiens made a bright start, led by captain Adrien Rabiot. Buffon, starting in goal, was still called upon to make a smart stop with a strong right hand (13’).
Timothy Weah opened the scoring just after the half-hour. Played in by Kevin Rimane, the young striker raced clear and scored beyond Ulreich with a clinical side-foot finish (1-0, 31’).
Bayern Munich equalised from a Javi Martinez header from a corner on the hour mark (1-1, 60’), before moving in front via a Renato Sanches free-kick a few minutes later (1-2, 68’). Joshua Zirkzee netted the German side’s third goal against Remy Descamps inside the final 15 minutes (1-3, 78’).
Despite the defeat, the team showed plenty of promise and played some nice football against a far more experienced team. Now Les Rouge et Bleus head to Singapore for their next two matches in the ICC 2018!
