Paris v. Clermont: the priority was elsewhere

It was a night of lasts amid a sense of pride, modesty and emotion for the Paris Saint-Germain family. After clinching the club's 11th French league title away to Strasbourg, making them the most decorated side in Ligue 1 history, Les Parisiens were back at the Parc des Princes this evening to bring their season to a close.

With Sergio Rico's accident earlier in the week weighing heavily on the situation, the entire Rouge et Bleu family were affected. Christophe Galtier was determined to round off the campaign with his head held high, though, in the final outing of the season against Clermont.

Clearly, a lot of feelings were mixed together for this final home game of the season, and while there was a special atmosphere in the air, with thoughts for Sergio Rico coming together both from the stands and from the pitch, there was also a match to be played.

Minds were always going to be elsewhere, however. Against a brave, audacious and pressure-free Clermont side, Paris were in store for a bumpy ride, and the visitors' first dangerous move of the game – a goal that was eventually ruled out for handball – offered an early reminder.

Les Parisiens looked to show their quality with occasional breakaways led by the pairing of Leo Messi and Kylian Mbappé, whose connection constantly lit up the stadium. With the former's shot narrowly missing the target and the latter tangoing his way through the Clermont defence, all that was missing was the finish, which came from Sergio Ramos. Almost as a symbol, the Spaniard found the net with a perfect header in what was his last game in the French capital (1-0, 16') – a moving moment for the man who dedicated his goal to his compatriot Rico, who received a minute of applause from the entire stadium immediately afterwards.

Emotion then turned to focus when Achraf Hakimi won a penalty for Les Rouge et Bleu – and who else to convert it but the ever-hungry Mbappé? Ligue 1's top scorer made no mistake in putting the seal on a true achievement: retaining his crown as the league's top scorer for the fifth year in a row (2-0, 21'). As a symbolic gesture, he also didn't pass up the opportunity to brandish the Paris keeper's shirt.

Tonight, it was difficult to truly think about anything else, and the away side quickly understood this, rushing into every gap in order to push Les Parisiens back. This desire helped them to reduce the deficit through Johan Gastien, who took advantage of a mix-up at the back shortly before the half-hour mark (2-1, 25'), before Les Clermontois gave the Paris rearguard another scare with a 37th-minute penalty miss from Grejohn Kyei. Things then went from bad to worse as Mehdi Zeffane drew his side level on the stroke of half time (2-2, 45'+1).

This state of affairs pushed Les Parisiens to move up a gear immediately after the restart, driven by the lightning-quick Mbappé, who moved as swiftly as ever to eat up space and combine with teammate Messi, with the Argentine's shot from the Frenchman's pass missing the target by inches. Clermont rode their luck, though, and from another attack that was initiated on the wing, they managed to pull ahead through Kyei (2-3, 63').

It was a hammer blow that didn't stop the Parc des Princes from singing and shouting at the top of its lungs for Sergio Rico, the common theme of a night when the priority was very much elsewhere. At the end of an always-special Matchday 38, between smiles and goodbyes, the French champions were above all driven by the idea of coming together with their fans to share a thought for their teammate before bringing down the curtain on their season.