It is a new defeat since the return of the World Cup, the third, and this setback is accompanied by a wider symbolic significance. Beaten in Marseille on Wednesday evening (2-1) in the round of 16 of the Coupe de France, Paris Saint-Germain lost at the Vélodrome for the first time since 2011. A defeat in which the Parisians, opposed to Bayern Munich in Champions League in less than a week, have missed too many things to hope to stay in contention and hope to achieve the Cup-Championship double this season.
Too few shots on target
If the PSG lost in Marseille, it is in particular because it did not know how to carry the danger sufficiently in front. What a summary reading of the statistics of the meeting proves. The Parisians, deprived of Kylian Mbappé, only had three shots on target throughout the game, including only one in the second half. And of these three attempts, two come from a defender, Sergio Ramos, scorer just before the break.
In all, PSG tried their luck eight times, as many as the number of strikes on target by OM. The Marseillais have a total of sixteen attempts in this round of 16.
Two suffering environments
Marco Verratti, who has not started for more than a month, and Danilo Pereira have pretty much got away with the Marseille pressing. But their two other PSG midfield partners, Vitinha and especially Fabian Ruiz, spent a much more complicated evening at the Vélodrome.
The Spaniard, particularly in the hard in the first period, was only four times in the duel, losing half. He is also responsible for eight losses of balls and only manages with two interceptions, more than half as much as the Marseillais Mattéo Guendouzi (5).
The Portuguese intercepted only one ball and lost half of his eight duels. But in all, Vitinha lost the ball eight times.
Lionel Messi, autopsy of a failed match
The captain of the world champion Argentina in December missed his Clasico. Lionel Messi fired twice, but both attempts were blocked by Marseille outfield players, where his attacking partner Neymar hit the post in the first half.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or player succeeded in three of his five dribbles, but only caused one foul and above all returned the ball to the opponent 28 times, the highest total for a player on the lawn. A match to forget in a test that refuses him for the second season in a row. The Coupe de France remains the only competition disputed by Lionel Messi that the Argentinian has never won.