While Antoine Kombouaré applauded his players, the announcer of the yellow Beaujoire of happiness shouted an improbable: “And 1 and 2 and 3-0 for FC Nantes!!! Lionel Messi wondered what was going on as the referee finally whistled the break following a totally crazy 50 minutes. In the stands, the delirium was total. Paris, the Real Madrid scorer (1-0) four days earlier in the knockout stages of the Champions League, was down. And not just any Paris.
Because if Mauricio Pochettino had made six changes to his starting XI – Navas (Donnarumma), Kehrer (Hakimi), Bernat (Nuno Mendes), Gueye (Paredes), Wijnaldum (Danilo), Neymar (Di Maria) – the stars were there. Starting with the Messi-Mbappé-Neymar trio which saw the Brazilian know his first tenure since November 28.
Only, the embrace of Leonardo, the sporting director, before entering the lawn, was not enough to avoid the (re) fall once morest which Kylian Mbappé had however warned from the final whistle on Tuesday. It would be wrong to say that the Parisians were beaten at will and that they watched Nantes from Kombouaré unfold their perfect plan. Bernat was the first to come up once morest an Alban Lafont of very big nights. In turn, Messi (8th), Mbappé (19th, 53rd), Gueye (26th), Neymar (28th and 59th on penalty), Draxler (84th), Di Maria (87th) will see their opportunity repelled by the Nantes goalkeeper.
Nantes, for its part, showed off its talent as a Coupe de France semi-finalist and offered several spectacular moves. Kolo Muani following a counter flash (1-0, 4th), Merlin on a wonderful shot from the left (16th, 2-0) then Blas on a penalty spotted by the VAR (3-0, 45 + 6) had allowed the 35 000 spectators roar with pleasure.
Fear for Mbappé’s ankle
As Opta reminds, it is only the third time that Paris have conceded at least 2 goals before the 20th minute of a Ligue 1 match under the QSI era following May 6, 2012 once morest Valenciennes (4-3 for PSG at final) and January 12, 2020 once morest Monaco (3-3).
Mauricio Pochettino didn’t expect that, until the return to Madrid on March 9, his side’s road would be smooth. But he would probably have preferred not to witness a few disconcerting scenes. Starting with the fear of seeing Mbappé’s left ankle turn under the strong tackle of Pallois (37th).
When the best player in the world screams in pain, all of Paris trembles. But the striker got up and he almost got Appiah’s expulsion rectified with a simple warning following recourse to the VAR (44th). He was then mowed down by this same Appiah, which gave Neymar, already a scorer from the start of the second period (3-1, 47th) the ball for 3-2. But the Brazilian managed to hit his penalty even weaker than Messi on Tuesday once morest Courtois and Lafont made his easiest save of the evening (59th).
Mbappé (73rd) then Marquinhos (76th) will in turn have the opportunity to revive Paris. In vain. Only the yellow cards will fall… After Rennes in October (2-0), already in the wake of a European success, once morest Manchester City, Paris therefore fell to Nantes and plunged back into doubt. Already…
MATCH SHEET
Half time: 3-0.
Referee: M. Lesage.
Buts. Nantes: Kolo Muani (4th), Merlin (16th), Blas (45th + 6 sp). PSG: Neymar (47th).
Warnings. Nantes: Castelletto (18th), Appiah (45th + 1). PSG: Verratti (38th), Wijnaldum (45th + 5), Neymar (50th), Mbappé (83rd), Hakimi (90th + 1), Di María (90th + 3).
Nantes : Lafont (cap.) – Castelletto, Bukari (Corchia, 67th), Pallois, Appiah, Chirivella, Merlin (Traoré, 90th) – Girotto, Blas (Pereira de Sa, 90th + 1) – Kolo Muani, Simon (Coco, 90th + 1). Entr. : Kombouare.
PSG: Navas – Kehrer (Hakimi, 74e), Marquinhos (cap.), Kimpembe, Bernat (Mendes, 74e) – Wijnaldum (Draxler, 65e), Gueye (Icardi, 81e), Verratti – Messi, Mbappé, Neymar (Di Maria, 74e ). Ent. : Pochettino.