The city of Paris has not yet been defeated. On the seventh day of Ligue 1, PSG played Stade Brestois at the Parc des Princes and ended up winning with the lowest possible score, 1-0. This match took place on Saturday afternoon. A match that was notable because Neymar scored his 110th goal for the Capital club, passing Pedro Miguel Pauleta in the process.
The Parisians established their rhythm and dictated the play throughout the opening period, thus establishing their superiority over the competition. Lionel Messi created several gaps for Christophe Galtier’s team to exploit behind the Brest defense, and his teammates continued to replicate this trend (11th, 13th ). Following two missed opportunities on services from the Pulga, Neymar finally broke through on the third attempt with a thunderous strike to open the goal after displaying excellent control (30th). Also of interest is the red card that was overturned because Christophe Herelle was playing offside in the 26th minute and the goal that Kylian Mbappé rightfully disallowed (45th). Stade Brestois battled to survive in the first action against a very clean, efficient, and dangerous Paris side, registering 90% completed passes at the interval. Despite some breakthroughs from Franck Honorat on the right side, Stade Brestois had a hard time competing.
In the second half, Brest was able to do a good job of plugging the holes in their low block, which consisted of five defenders. Compared to the first session, Paris played back defense less frequently. A second act was distinguished by Slimani missing a penalty against a fantastic performance by Donnarumma (in the 72nd), who twice prevented the Parisians from equalizing the score (72nd, 80th). PSG did, however, have more opportunities, as seen by Messi’s miss in the 50th minute and Mbappé’s miss in the 58th minute following a magnificent combination by the trio. The players for Galtier terrified each other with multiple young cards in the final quarter of an hour, but the Brestois were unable to capitalize on the slowdown in play to even the score or gain new clean chances.
PSG continues to maintain its place atop the standings, as it currently holds the first spot with 19 points, while Stade Brestois is steady in the 17th position. At the Groupama Stadium, the Parisians will face off against OL the next weekend, and Brest will play host to AC Ajaccio.