Paris return from Austria with a draw

We said goodbye to each other last May, bringing the curtain down on a season rich in emotion, a campaign that saw us win another Coupe de France to add to a trophy cabinet already adorned with a new Trophée des Champions and another French league title. And now here we are, looking ahead to the 2024-2025 season! But before officially opening the festivities, the capital club had planned a tasty appetiser in Austria - a friendly against Sturm Graz - before heading to Germany for another friendly, against RB Leipzig on Saturday.

On Wednesday evening, it was time to sit down to dinner with Les Rouge et Bleu, decked out in their finest away shirt. Luis Enrique had concocted a novel starting XI for the occasion, giving us the chance to see academy graduates Mbaye and El Hannach in action alongside new recruit Matvey Safonov in goal. Time for a show!

The match got underway in a summery atmosphere, quickly setting the tone for both teams' attacking intent. But it was the Parisians who struck first! Set up by Asensio, our young Mbaye managed to beat the goalkeeper early on in proceedings, making the most of his first-team debut (0-1, 9'). It was not long before Lee and then Kolo Muani's hard work paid off as captain of the day Carlos Soler doubled the lead (0-2, 12').

But a friendly is never really a friendly, and the Austrians - determined to put on a show in front of their home crowd - were quick to respond. Amady Camara was the first to reduce the deficit (1-2, 15'), before Kiteishvili equalised with a powerful shot (2-2, 44').

On the other side of half-time, the two teams were facing each other with the same dynamic: the Austrians super-motivated to put on a show, and the Parisians forced to be patient in order to get back on track. They also had to dig deep physically against a team that had played a lot of warm-up matches.

In fact, as the minutes ticked by, the match became increasingly contested. But while the second half failed to produce any goals, it was notable for marking the appearance of new signings Gabriel Moscardo and Joao Neves, who made their first-ever appearances for Paris!

Thus our players' mission in Austria was a success: they got back to business, they integrated a number of new faces, created connections and began to implement the 24-25 version of Luis Enrique's precepts. More of the same on Saturday against a new opponent - see you then!