Paris suffer cruel home loss
Despite dominating Wednesday’s game at the Parc des Princes, Paris Saint-Germain suffered a heart-breaking 2-1 loss to Spanish side Atletico de Madrid in Matchday 4 of the UEFA Champions League. Warren Zaïre-Emery had given the hosts a 14th minute lead, only for Nahuel Molina to equalise four minutes later and Angel Correa to net the winner with the last kick of the game (90+3).
Four days after their 1-0 win over Lens in Ligue 1, Luis Enrique aligned captain Marquinhos and Willian Pacho in the centre of defence in front of Gianluigi Donnarumma's goal with Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes in the full-back roles. In midfield, Vitinha sat in front of the back four, flanked by Warren Zaïre-Emery and João Neves, while in attack, Marco Asensio started at centre-forward, with Bradley Barcola on his left and Ousmane Dembélé to his right.
Les Rouge et Bleu set the tone from the outset, pressing high up the pitch and breaking forward at speed at every opportunity. After a first shot across the bow from Achraf Hakimi (2’), the Parisians went ahead just before the quarter-hour mark. Ousmane Dembélé robbed Clément Lenglet at the top of the box and played in Warren Zaïre-Emery who chipped a subtle right-foot shot beyond Jan Oblak (1-0, 14'). However the celebrations inside the Parc des Princes were cut short when Nahuel Molina appeared to control the ball with his arm before firing home an equaliser against the run of play (1-1, 18').
After an exciting start to the game, the pace eased, but it was Paris who were the more enterprising, as they looked to breakdown their opponents' tightly-packed defence. Nuno Mendes and Achraf Hakimi stretched the opposition defence to free up space for Vitinha, Warren Zaïre-Emery and Marco Asensio, dropping into midfield. But Atleti's defence held firm as both teams went into the break level at one-all.
The second half began in similar fashion with Paris on top, dominating possession and territory. Moroccan full-back Hakimi tried to catch Oblak out at the near post, before Dembélé saw his follow up shot hit the side netting (54'). A few minutes later, it was Bradley Barcola's turn to break through the Colchoneros rearguard, but again, Oblak was on hand to keep his side level (58’ and 64’).
Les Rouge et Bleu, led by their captain Marquinhos, making his 200th appearance with the armband, searched for a winner. The skipper saw his header saved (73'), before Hakimi was again denied (77’). Paris threw everything they had into the battle, but luck was not on their side this evening. And with the last kick of the game, Angel Correa gave the Spanish side the lead against the run of play (1-2, 90+3’).
It was a cruel finish to a match that was dominated from start to finish by Paris Saint-Germain, who took 22 shots to four. The capital club will now have to pick themselves up and turn attentions to their final fixture before the international break, a trip to Angers SCO in Ligue 1, this Saturday at 21:00 CET.
