Paris win in Brest and secure a place in the Round of 16!
Paris Saint-Germain secured the victory in the Round of 32 of the Coupe de France in Brest (0-3). A look back at the match.
After securing their place in the Round of 32 in Caen, Paris Saint-Germain were back on the road to the west of the country to face Brest in the most reputed competition in French football. A third consecutive away trip for Mauricio Pochettino, who made the most of the return of Marco Verratti to hand him the captain's armband and task him with providing for the attacking trio of Sarabia-Mbappé-Draxler.
Les Rouge et Bleu quickly got things going and put Olivier Dall'Oglio's side under pressure. In a tactical battle that was played with excellent rhythm, Les Parisiens looked to add pace to their passing. And when talking about pace, how can you ignore Kylian Mbappé! It's was with a lightning attack from the French forward that Paris got themselves on the front foot in the encounter: the n°7 left behind his markers as he powered through the middle and smashed home with his left (0-1, 9').
Up against them, Stade Brestois remained true to themselves, and Faivre (4') or Philippoteaux (21') came close, but the Paris defence defended well. At the other end of the pitch, Les Parisiens upped the pressure to look to get a second. After an incredible Kylian Mbappé hit the post when he combined well with Marco Verratti (34'), it was Pablo Sarabia, who had come close just minutes earlier (26'), that doubled the visitors' lead, converting a pass from Julian Draxler (0-2, 43').
And although Paris dominated the match as they went in at half-time, the match levelled out in the second half, with chances at both ends. Kylian Mbappé (52') and Leandro Paredes (54') continued to trouble the Brest defence, while Sergio Rico was impeccable on his line, with no less than 7 stops in total. But the irresistible Kylian Mbappé was the man to bring the encounter to a close as he converted another inspired piece of play from Marco Verratti (0-3, 74').
After a smart team performance, Paris Saint-Germain head straight through to the Round fo 16... Of the Coupe de France, but also the UEFA Champions League, given that after three consecutive victories across all competitions, Les Parisiens will now face FC Barcelona in the return leg, at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday.
