Paris Saint-Germain took a resounding revenge in the Ligue 1 classic by winning in Marseille (3-0) on Sunday, while refining their preparation for their big meeting with Bayern Munich, in ten days. Strongly shaken in the Coupe de France on February 8 (2-1 defeat), PSG soon let the Olympians know that it would not be the same match by scoring two goals by Kylian Mbappé (25th) and Lionel Messi (29th), infernal duo who returned the courtesy on assists. The Argentinian then with a subtle ladle again offered Mbappé his 200th goal with PSG (55th), equaling Edinson Cavani’s record.
The title may have been played from this 25th day, since Paris takes eight lengths ahead of its runner-up. OM, unable to compete like 18 days earlier, did not lose everything with the brakes of their rivals for the qualification in the Champions League, Monaco (3rd) against Nice (3-0) and Lens (4th ) in Montpellier (1-1). Igor Tudor’s team keeps a two-point margin over ASM and four over Racing, and can limit its ambitions to winning back the Coupe de France, with a quarter-final against Annecy (L2), Wednesday at the Vélodrome .
PSG have put their domestic affairs in order. After three defeats in a row, he has just beaten Lille (4-3) and OM. He has one match left against Nantes on Saturday before going to try to overthrow in Munich on March 8 the defeat of the first leg at the Parc des Princes (1-0).
This controlled victory offers a nice breath of fresh air to Christophe Galtier, who celebrated the goals with clenched fists on the Parisian bench. This time the choices of the Parisian coach were crowned with success, and the victory less far-fetched than against Losc, where already the talent of Mbappé (two goals) and Messi (one goal) had pulled his team from deal in the last few minutes.
And finally his defense did not concede a goal for the first time in eight matches, with in particular two big saves from Gianluigi Donnarumma against Alexis Sanchez (65th) and rookie Vitinha (90th). The game is not yet radiant, Paris has not mastered everything, far from it, but it has avoided the crisis and put itself back in the right direction, especially with a view to the C1, while Bayern have also carded a pursuer, Union Berlin (3-0), Sunday. In Munich, it will most likely be without Neymar, who is nursing his sprained right ankle.
Unfortunately for Paris, the “one injured per match” black series continued with Presnel Kimpembe’s tearful exit at the quarter-hour mark, hit in the left leg. He was replaced by the versatile Danilo Pereira (15th).
A counter flash led by “Pulga” and “Kyk’s”, born of an intelligent shift from Vitinha, allowed PSG to open the scoring, despite a first half hour generously animated by OM, extinguishing a Velodrome which broke its attendance record with more than 65,800 spectators.
Four minutes later, Mbappé in turn served the Argentinian for the K.-O. And in the second half, a ladle from Messi offered his 200th Parisian goal to N.7. Of the three actions, the Ivorian Eric Bailly was totally overwhelmed by the speed of the triple scorer in the World Cup final. Tudor ended his ordeal by replacing him with Jonathan Clauss (66th).
The absences in central Marseille of Chancel Mbemba (suspended) and Samuel Gigot (injured) cost OM dearly. For his fifth game in 2023, after his long suspension for a big foul against Hyères fans, Bailly was shipwrecked.
OM only dreamed at the start of the match, on an acceleration from Nuno Tavares (12th), taken over by Nuno Mendes, and hoped to equalize by Bailly, but the defender had committed a handball before scoring (28th). The score could even have been heavier, if Messi had not shot above (33rd) or if Pau Lopez had not stopped Mbappé (39th). Paris gets its revenge.
