Les Parisiennes capitalise with a win away to Rodez

A week after hitting the ground running with a 2-0 win over Soyaux in their opening league fixture, Les Parisiennes were back at it again today, this time in the southwestern city of Rodez. For his side's first away encounter of the campaign, Gérard Prêcheur put together a mouth-watering starting 11, cleverly mixing talent, experience and power with a front three of Kadidiatou Diani, Ramona Bachmann and Lieke Martens, backed up by Grace Geyoro, Oriane Jean-François and Laurina Fazer in midfield.

For Les Rouge et Bleue, the key to this game was clear: being able to pick the lock of the Rodez defence whilst also keeping things tidy at the back themselves against a courageous side that were ready to pounce on even the slightest counter-attacking opportunity. After a fairly balanced start to the match, Les Parisiennes began to dominate possession and impose their style of play on the game. This momentum then materialised through increasingly intense pressure, with Fazer creating Paris's first chance of the game, but the breakthrough came from Geyoro, who timed her run into the box to perfection in order to convert Diani's fizzed-in cross at point-blank range (0-1, 19').

From then onwards, Gérard Prêcheur's players settled into a more comfortable setup, switching between spells of possession and injections of pace in order to try and double their lead. They almost did so when a sumptuous, curled strike from Fazer ended up hitting the crossbar, as well as when Geyoro again tried her luck with a shot across goal that was pushed away by Marie-Morgane Sieber. Either way, Les Parisiennes had the game where they wanted it.

This was especially the case in the second half, when Les Rouge et Bleue stepped things up a notch thanks to some smart coaching. They needed a little help to put the game to bed, with Sakina Karchaoui's floated cross-come-shot catching out Sieber shortly after the interval (0-2, 50'), but Paris's third goal was all their own making. In a move that looked like it was straight from the training ground, the mazy Sandy Baltimore – who had come off the bench at the break – delivered an inch-perfect cross for Diani, who took her chance inside the area to finish off a job well done (0-3, 57').

Les Rouge et Bleue managed their lead with tremendous professionalism, remaining hard-working and committed until the end. They could have added another if Sieber, who was back on top form again, hadn't had her say in the matter. Although the pace of the game dropped towards the end, Geyoro put the icing on the cake of Paris's win by bagging the second brace of her career in D1 Arkema, finishing off a lovely team move (0-4, 90'+2).

After putting in a complete performance, Les Parisiennes notched up their second win of the campaign to capitalise on last weekend's victory and put themselves at the top of the table, thereby consolidating their perfect start to the 2022-23 D1 Arkema season. These promising beginnings now lead them into the real deal, with the return of the UEFA Women's Champions League and a game against Swedish side BK Häcken next Wednesday, before they host FC Fleury 91 four days later. Mission accomplished.