Paris and Bordeaux share the spoils

Paris Saint-Germain returned to league action to face the Girondins just four days after beating RB Leipzig. It was a welcome return to Thomas Tuchel’s starting eleven for Marco Verratti. Youngster Timothée Pembele made his first start alongside Presnel Kimpembe in the centre of defence and a suspended Keylor Navas was replaced in goal by Sergio Rico.

📋 Le 1⃣1⃣ de départ pour cette rencontre 🆚 Bordeaux #PSGFCGB pic.twitter.com/Lky2nzeoJL

— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_inside) November 28, 2020

From kick off it was clear to see that the two sides had two very different ways of playing. Defending champions Paris Saint-Germain played a very high line to stop Bordeaux from settling into the game. Jean Louis Gasset’s men, on the other hand, exploited every counter attack and set piece to the fullest. And it was the visitors who ended up taking the lead from one of these set pieces as Timothée Pembele deflected Josh Maja’s header from a corner into his own net. (0-1, 9’).

The Parisians weren’t going to go down without a fight, though, and they doubled their efforts to try and equalise. It was Neymar Jr who proved decisive by winning a penalty and slotting it home confidently (1-1, 27’). Just a minute later his left-footed effort was saved by goalkeeper Costil, but the ball rebounded only as far as Moise Kean, who gave the Rouge et Bleu the lead (2-1, 28’).

It was a very disciplined performance by the Parisians to close out the half with their lead intact. They even created some clear-cut chances for themselves before the break.

In the second half Thomas Tuchel’s men didn’t take their foot off the gas, creating chance after chance. Kylian Mbappé came close to adding to the score (47’, 55’) after hitting the post in the first half (35’).

However, it ended up being two former Parisians who combined for the next goal, as Hatem Ben Arfa played the ball to Yacine Adli, who finished well to let Bordeaux back into the game (2-2, 60’). Despite the Rouge et Bleu giving everything to score a third they couldn’t get past the wall of Bordeaux defenders.

A draw didn’t exactly represent the madness of the final ten minutes where the game was end-to-end. Both teams seemed to have found another gear as there were numerous chances at both ends. But there were no further goals before the final whistle.

So Paris Saint-Germain are sitting at the top of the league table and now have to focus on Wednesday’s big European game against Manchester United at Old Trafford.