PSG largely won 6-2 against Gamba Osaka on Monday for their last preparation match before the Champions Trophy against Nantes next Sunday. On the lawn of the Panasonic Stadium in Suita, the Parisians did not lack impact in attack but the team still lacks balance, as evidenced by the two goals conceded.
Man of the Match: Neymar
All that was missing was him. After seeing Leo Messi grab the light in the first test against Kawasaki Frontale (2-1), seeing Kylian Mbappé take the leading role on the stage for Urawa Red Diamonds (3-1), Neymar, in turn , played the atmosphere for PSG this Monday evening. The 38,251 spectators however believed for a long time that Masasaki Higashiguchi, the astonishing doorman of the Gamba, was going to succeed in stealing the show from the Parisian stars by dint of multiplying the reflex stops against Messi (4th), Neymar (6th, 15th), Sarabia (11th, 20th) or Hakimi (27th). It was without counting on the Brazilian who will end up being involved in four of the five Parisian achievements.
At the origin of the goal scored by Pablo Sarabia (the 2nd of the course) from a close range recovery, the Parisian number 10 then did justice to a (generous?) penalty he had provoked (31st), offered a caviar to Leo Messi in the six meters (39th) and signed his first double of the season by converting Messi’s through pass by winning his face to face with Higashiguchi (60th). Only the goal of Mendes on a cross shot from the left, following an opening by Vitinha (37th), will therefore not have needed his technique to change the scoreboard during the 70 minutes he spent on the lawn. During the sixth goal scored by Mbappé, on a penalty that he himself had caused (86th), the Brazilian had already come out.
The number: 2
Paris conceded 2 goals and it is the black point, without a doubt, of the evening. Saturday, after the match against the Red Diamonds, Galtier had assured that his team had to “still improve a lot on its ability to concede fewer chances. “That evening, however, Paris had not conceded any goal. The observation is necessarily the same at the end of this last test since Pari has not only been destabilized on several occasions on the defensive level, but above all he has conceded two goals against Gamba. The first scored by Kurokawa in the middle of a fdôret of legs near that Donnarumma has repelled the danger for the first time (34th). The second on an action with a touch of the ball that Yamami, perfectly served at the penalty spot, concluded from inside the right (70th). Not enough to reassure Christophe Galtier less than a week before the Trophée des Champions against Nantes.
The fact of the game
Once is not custom, it will have taken place after the final whistle. Before flying off in the middle of the night to reach Paris on Tuesday morning, PSG took care to say goodbye to the Japanese public. He, who had come in large numbers to training open to the public and who lined the stands during the three friendly tests, saw Marquinhos, the Parisian captain, come to thank him in person on the lawn. “On behalf of all the players, the staff and the president, I would like to thank the three teams we faced and all the Japanese public who welcomed us with great warmth and energy. It’s the second time I come here, I came with the selection. I am very happy with the energy you have given us. Arigato gozaimasu (note: thank you very much). »