The goals keep coming for Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain, and Gianluigi Donnarumma keeps stopping them at the other end.
The Brazil forward netted his eighth goal in seven French
league games and Donnarumma parried away a penalty to lead PSG back to the top
with a 1-0 win over Brest on Saturday.
Still unbeaten in all competitions ahead of Wednesday’s trip
to Maccabi Haifa in the Champions League, PSG had briefly dropped to second
place following Len’s 1-0 win against Troyes on Friday.
Christophe Galtier’s team moved two points clear with its
sixth league win.
Galtier said he regretted that his players did not enjoy a
more comfortable win and he criticized their “technical mistakes.” Galtier told
French media that defender Presnel Kimpebe, who limped off the field near the
end, would miss PSG’s next couple of matches because of a muscular lesion.
Neymar’s goal took him top outright in the scoring charts
ahead of teammate Kylian Mbappé. With the World Cup looming later this year,
the former Barcelona player has been in excellent form, with an additional six
assists.
Neymar put the hosts in front in the 29th minute from Lionel
Messi’s assist. The Argentine picked out his teammate perfectly with a lofted
ball into the box that Neymar controlled with a soft touch before firing it
home with a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner.
PSG’s formidable three-pronged attack of Mbappé, Neymar and
Messi combined well throughout the game, with Brest second-best in all sectors
of the field at the Parc des Princes. The trio created havoc near the hour mark
with a succession of quick passes but Mbappé fluffed his shot and missed the target.
Mbappé had a goal disallowed before halftime for an offside
position, and Messi came close to doubling PSG’s lead after the interval only
to see his header from Mbappé‘s cross hit the post as Brest ’keeper Marco Bizot
looked well beaten.
PSG could have been made to pay for its profligacy after
Brest was awarded a soft penalty with 20 minutes left when PSG defender Presnel
Kimpembe was sanctioned for contact with Noah Fadiga. But Donnarumma got a firm
hand to Islam Slimani’s effort from the spot.
Donnarumma was decisive again nine minutes later to stop
another effort from Slimani, ensuring that the hosts stayed in command.
“It’s important to be able to suffer together,” Donnarumma
said. “And today, we did it. We knew it would not be easy, and we had to suffer
all together.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment