Stats and Facts: A look back at the win over Nice
Les Parisiens got back to winning ways in the league last night with a 2-0 victory away to Nice. We take a look back at the key facts and figures from the game.
AN UPHILL TASK DOWN SOUTH
After two successive defeats, Les Rouge et Bleu needed to bounce back away to Nice, a team that had been transformed since the arrival of their new manager, Didier Digard, at the start of the calendar year. It wasn't going to be an easy task, but Les Parisiens rediscovered a sense of cohesion and togetherness at the Allianz Riviera that meant that they came back with all three points and an incredible clean sheet (see below).
After their closest competitors in the table, Lens, had temporarily closed the gap back to three points, Paris proceeded to restore their six-point lead and set themselves up for next Saturday's clash with Les Sang et Or at the Parc des Princes with calmer heads. They will remain at least three points ahead of Lens after next weekend's round of Ligue 1 fixtures, which brings the prospect of an 11th French league title ever so slightly closer into view.
In the same game, Paris Saint-Germain scored their 100th and 101st goals of the season, reaching an important milestone thanks to strikes from goalscorer and assist provider Leo Messi, who further cements his place at the top of the league's assist charts with 14 of them, and from Sergio Ramos with his first Ligue 1 goal of the campaign.
RAMOS AND MARQUINHOS RACK UP THE NUMBERS
Ramos, in fact, made his 50th appearance for Paris on Saturday night. After an injury-plagued first season, the 2010 World Cup winner is enjoying a more prolific second season, with 23 starts in 25 Ligue 1 games. The Spanish centre-back has now also scored in every domestic competition during the current campaign (Ligue 1, the Coupe de France and the Trophée des Champions).
Meanwhile, captain Marquinhos made his 400th appearance for Paris Saint-Germain – an exceptional achievement that puts him third in the list of the club's all-time top appearance makers, behind Marco Verratti on 409 and Jean-Marc Pilorget on 435, and an emotional moment for the man who recently captained his side for the 100th time. The love story between Marquinhos and Paris Saint-Germain therefore goes on and could well make him Les Rouge et Bleu's all-time top appearance maker one day.
DONNARUMMA, ARTIGIANO DELLA QUALITÀ
Incidentally, Paris Saint-Germain picked up the 900th league win of their history on Saturday night – a nice, round figure, just like the number of goals conceded by Gigio Donnarumma at the Allianz Riviera: 0 (zero). An exceptional performance from the Italian international goalkeeper, who made seven key saves yesterday, was what kept his side in the game and eventually helped to earn them the win.
Donnarumma had done better just once before, with eight saves against Lille on 21st August last year in the 7-1 win there. Paris also inflicted a first defeat of 2023 on Nice and Didier Digard by recording a third away win in a row, following the victories away to Marseille and Brest. Here's one last fact to impress your friends with: having scored 36 goals in 15 away league encounters this season, Paris Saint-Germain are the team with the most goals scored away from home of any team in the division, including Marseille and Monaco, who have netted 28 away goals each. Whether you're on the road or not this weekend, we hope you have a happy Easter.