Four matchdays in, Paris Saint-Germain finally have a Ligue 1 win. Brest 0-1 PSG was not the performance of a side that has retained the European Cup, but it was a result — and after two draws and a defeat, a result was the only thing that mattered in Brittany on Sunday night.
It took one moment of quality, from the man who has decided most of the good nights of this season.
The goal that won Brest 0-1 PSG
With their first real chance of the game, Paris scored. João Neves slid the ball into Ousmane Dembélé, who flicked it on with his heel into the path of Ferran Torres. One touch, from 25 yards, past Egil Selvik. Exactly the one-touch football Luis Enrique keeps demanding.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia almost doubled the lead shortly afterwards, drawing a fingertip save from the Brest goalkeeper. That was as comfortable as the evening got.
Brest had the better chances — and Safonov
Get French Football News noted that the home side finished the night with the superior expected goals, and the chances back that up. Nuno Mendes inexplicably passed straight to Kamory Doumbia, who ran clear on Matvey Safonov and struck the outside of the post. Minutes later Pathé Mboup found Doumbia in the box and his header forced a strong save low to Safonov’s left. Late on, Mboup himself drew another fingertip stop.
Paris had chances to kill it and did not take them. Neves arrived at the back post twice without beating Selvik; Désiré Doué cut in from the left and missed the far post by inches. A one-goal lead against a side in that mood is an invitation, and Brest accepted it for most of the second half.
The full PSG player ratings at Brest
Get French Football News marked the Parisians as follows:
- Matvey Safonov — 7
- Nuno Mendes — 4
- Willian Pacho — 5
- Marquinhos — 5
- Achraf Hakimi — N/A (withdrawn midway through the first half)
- Fabián Ruiz — 5 (on for Hakimi)
- Warren Zaïre-Emery — 4
- Vitinha — 4
- João Neves — 6
- Khvicha Kvaratskhelia — 4
- Ousmane Dembélé — 5
- Ferran Torres — 7
Two sevens, a six, and everything else at five or below. That is a win built on a goalkeeper and a centre-forward.
Safonov’s reply
The 7 is the number worth sitting with. Safonov has taken more criticism than anyone at the club this season, and not unfairly — we wrote about the questions hanging over his winless start only last week, and L’Équipe gave him a 3/10 in the Monaco ratings. One night does not close that file. But he was asked a range of questions in Brittany and answered all of them, and he is the reason this is a win rather than a fourth game without one.
The flip side is Nuno Mendes on 4 for the pass that nearly cost it, and fours for Zaïre-Emery, Vitinha and Kvaratskhelia. The spine that carried Paris to back-to-back European titles is still not functioning in the league.
Torres is carrying this start
Ferran Torres has been the signing of the summer so far. He took a hat-trick in the 6-1 Champions League win over Slovan Bratislava on Wednesday, and four days later he settled a scrappy league night with a single touch from 25 yards. For a squad that let two centre-forwards go in the same window, the €48.5m spent at Barcelona looks better every week. Torres himself has been measured about it; the goals are not.
What it changes
Not much, and everything. Paris arrived at the Stade Francis-Le Blé having drawn at Rennes and Lille and lost at home to Monaco — a start we previewed as the night the season had to turn. It has not turned yet. The performance was ordinary, the xG went the wrong way, and only two players passed convincingly.
But the first three points are on the board, the Champions League defence is open with a six-goal statement, and Luis Enrique’s side go into the international break having finally won a league match. In this particular September, that will do.
