Paris finish the season on a high!

Four days after their 2-1 win away to Nice at the Allianz Riviera, Les Parisiens were back in Ligue 1 action for the final time this season as they headed to northeastern France to take on FC Metz. Having already been crowned French champions for a 12^th time, the capital club used this encounter to put out a unique starting XI at the Stade Saint-Symphorien.

Against Les Grenats, who were fighting for their top-flight lives this evening, Luis Enrique entrusted Keylor Navas with the task of keeping goal, while Danilo took on the captain’s armband and operated in central defence alongside Lucas Beraldo. Meanwhile, Nuno Mendes and Nordi Mukiele occupied the wing-back positions, with Manuel Ugarte starting in the midfield engine room. Ahead of him, Carlos Soler and Senny Mayulu were tasked with supporting wingers Lee Kang-in and Marco Asensio, while Gonçalo Ramos took up the centre-forward position to complete the Paris line-up.

The match got off to a flying start and with the first corner of the game, Lee Kang-In picked out Carlos Soler who curled his right-footed shot into Alexandre Oukidja's top right-hand corner (0-1, 7'). Les Messins tried to fightback, but Danley Jean-Jacques saw his shot fly wide after connecting with Kevin Van den Kerkhof's cross (11').

But Paris were quickly back on the front foot and when Gonçalo Ramos set up Marco Asensio in the box, the Spain international picked out Lee Kang-In who made no mistake (0-2, 12'). Initially disallowed for an offside position, Paris' second goal of the evening was eventually awarded by VAR. The capital club came close to scoring a third just before the half-hour mark: Marco Asensio combined brilliantly with Nuno Mendes and once again found himself in the Metz box, where he fed Gonçalo Ramos, who failed to hit the target (26').

Les Grenats' rearguard was under enormous pressure as Les Rouge et Bleu kept coming. Nordi Mukiele denied by Oukidja before Marco Asensio’s left-foot shot narrowly missed (32'). Moments later, Mukiele’s lob was saved in extremis by Matthieu Udol, who nodded it onto his own crossbar (35')! Just before the break, the Lee Kang-In show continued and our midfielder could have scored his second had it not been for an exceptional save by the Metz keeper on his shot from the edge of the area (44’).

Down by two goals at the break, Metz tried to get back into the game, but Haitian midfielder Jean-Jacques failed to hit the target (48’). Paris continued to dominate, but the home side was dangerous on the counter-attack, led by Georges Mikautadze. The Grenats centre-forward broke into the box and unleashed a right-footed shot that Keylor Navas could only parry (61’)! Fifteen minutes later, the Paris goalkeeper was saved this time by his bar from Lamine Camara's miss-hit cross (76’). In the end, Marco Asensio came closest to troubling the scorers (90+4’), but it finished 2-0.

Paris picked up their second win of the week and their 22nd league victory of this triumphant season in what was the perfect rehearsal for next weekend’s final match of the season: the Coupe de France final against Olympique Lyonnais. The showdown will take place at 21:00 CET on Saturday 25 May at Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille.