Everything about Lorient-Paris!

a bit of history

This is the 39th official meeting between Lorient and Paris Saint-Germain, and the Parisians are largely dominant with a record of 22 wins, 7 draws and 9 defeats.

On 26 September 1970, more than 52 years ago, Paris Saint-Germain drew with Lorient at the Stade Yves Allainmat (0-0) in matchday 5 of the Championnat National, in the Centre group (ex-Ligue 2). FC Lorient are, along with Stade Brestois 29, the oldest of Paris Saint-Germain's 19 Ligue 1 opponents this season.

It was also against the Merlus that Paris Saint-Germain played the first match of the QSI era, with a 0-1 defeat at the Parc des Princes on 6 August 2011.

This is the 21st trip to Lorient for the Rouge et Bleu, with an exceptional record: 12 wins, 5 draws and only 3 defeats. The Parisians had won 12 consecutive matches against the Merlus, and 14 matches unbeaten before the defeat in Brittany (2-3), on 31/01/2021.

The Paris Saint-Germain, before this defeat, had won 8 consecutive official matches in Lorient, which is a record in the history of the club from the capital. In the league, the Parisians had won in their last 6 matches in Lorient, another record, co-held with Nantes (a run that ended in 2018) and Metz (an ongoing run).

Ten players have played for both clubs: Fabrice Abriel, Adil Aouchiche, Grégory Bourillon, Louis Cardiet, Fabrice Fiorèse, Kevin Gameiro, Ludovic Giuly, Christophe Jallet, Patrice Loko and Stéphane Pédron.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, with 8 goals, is Paris Saint-Germain's top scorer against Lorient. He is ahead of Neymar Jr and Pedro Miguel Pauleta (4 goals). The Swedish striker is also the only Parisian player to have scored a hat-trick against Les Merlus at the Parc des Princes on 20 March 2015 in the league (a 3-1 victory for the Parisians).

what's at stake...  

Paris Saint-Germain, unbeaten leaders in the league (11 wins and 2 draws), and with a 2-point lead over runners-up Lens, will be looking to continue their unbeaten run in Ligue 1 (22 games with 17 wins and 5 draws).

Paris are also on a run of 29 matches without defeat (22 wins and 7 draws), since the 0-3 at Monaco in the league on March 20. A top 3 run in PSG's history, the Rouge et Bleu's record is 37 matches (run from August 1993 to April 1994), followed by the 36-match run from March 2012 to December 2013.

Beware for the Rouge et Bleu, it was in their last match at 13:00 that Monaco had defeated Paris in their last defeat. The Rouge et Bleu's record in 13:00 matches in the league is 5 wins to 3 losses in 8 matches played.

the keys to the game...

Paris will be able to rely on its steely defence away from home in the league: with just one goal conceded (against Lille), the club from the capital has already beaten its record after 7 matches away from home in Ligue 1, during the 2015-2016 season (2 goals conceded).

Paris Saint-Germain have not conceded a goal away from home since the match in Lille (7-1), that is 486 minutes of play. This is the third best record in the club's history, behind the 1988-1989 (490 minutes) and 2003-2004 (529 minutes) runs. They will need to deny Lorient for more than 43 minutes to break this 19-year-old record.

The Parisians, with 36 league goals, are also well ahead of Rennes (28 goals) in the Ligue 1 table.

Kylian Mbappé, who has already scored 42 times in official matches for 2022, is also devilishly effective away from home in the league, with a total of 15 goals in the last 10 Parisian matches he has played in.

Lorient are a team that have denied the Rouge et Bleu's number 7, who has never scored a goal against the Merlus in Brittany until now. A new challenge for the league's top scorer with 11 goals in just 12 games this season in Ligue 1.