Clermont Foot 0-0 PSG: Player ratings as Mbappe & co held to shock draw
Lowly Clermont Foot stunned Paris Saint-Germain with a dogged 0-0 draw at the Stade Gabriel-Montpied on Saturday afternoon.
Pascal Gastien, manager of the team that started the day propping up the Ligue 1 table, described Saturday’s contest as „a match where we have everything to gain“. Thanks in no small part to the heroics of his goalkeeper Mory Diaw, Gastien’s Clermont gained one point but could take plenty of confidence from the threat they caused PSG themselves.
The reigning champions, by contrast, will be knocked after slumping to their second goalless draw of the campaign ahead of a menacing slate of fixtures domestically and in Europe.
How the game unfolded
Luis Enrique devoted much of his pre-match press conference to try and guard against any complacency creeping into his side ahead of a meeting with Ligue 1’s bottom club. Yet, the manager’s team selection belied his own confidence.
Ahead of a trip to Newcastle United’s St James‘ Park in the Champions League on Wednesday night, Enrique started his first-choice midfield pairing of the prodigious Warren Zaire-Emery and tough-tackling Manuel Ugarte on the bench.
Without Ugarte’s grit and grizzle, Clermont were able to surge through PSG’s soft centre. Yet, the lumbering champions were let off the hook by Ligue 1’s lowest scorers. Yohann Magnin had two efforts desperately blocked from inside the six-yard box – although Gianluigi Donnarumma had no right to get anywhere near the ball after it dropped to Magnin one step – at most – from PSG’s goal line within seconds of the restart.
Enrique resisted the temptation to rest Kylian Mbappe. Any frontline with the Frenchman in it will naturally create chances but Clermont’s Diaw rediscovered the sensational shot-stopping form that underpinned his side’s eighth-placed finish last term.
Ousmane Dembele forced a fingertip save from the towering keeper who also denied Danilo Pereira from point-blank range right at the death.
After some rare incision from the visitors in the final ten minutes, Diaw got a paw to Goncalo Ramos‘ dainty dink. The ball was trickling towards goal as Andy Pelmard belted a clearance into his own teammate Maximiliano Caufriez. Diaw slumped both arms around his teammates in relief after watching the ball spin behind for a corner. That comedy act was as close as PSG would come to scoring.
GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma – 7/10 – Hauled his hulking frame to the floor expertly when forced into action.
CB: Danilo Pereira – 3/10 – Tossed around like a rag doll by the gargantuan forward Shamar Nicholson.
CB: Milan Skriniar – 4/10 – Too overeager to win the ball back, giving away some cheap free-kicks.
CB: Marquinhos – 6/10 – Didn’t look overly awkward even though he was shifted onto his weaker side of the back-three but wasn’t entirely comfortable as a left-back while PSG chased a late goal.
RWB: Achraf Hakimi – 4/10 – Ferreted infield and got lost in the crush of bodies. Fortunate to avoid conceding a foul in his own area.
CM: Fabian Ruiz – 2/10 – Freshly clean-shaven, Ruiz’s chin was the only sharp thing about him in an error-strewn display as PSG’s deepest midfielder.
CM: Vitinha – 4/10 – Flitted in and out of the contest, letting the game pass him by without consequence.
LWB: Bradley Barcola – 6/10 – Naturally a winger, Barcola didn’t shirk his defensive duties, using his electric pace to hare towards both boxes when necessary.
RW: Ousmane Dembele – 6/10 – Struck fear into the heart of every crimson shirt in his vicinity.
ST: Randal Kolo Muani – 5/10 – A painfully peripheral figure until he was moved wider.
LW: Kylian Mbappe – 6/10 – Produced some spell-binding bursts of skill without quite finding the breakthrough.
Substitutes
SUB: Goncalo Ramos (64′ for Barcola) – 5/10
SUB: Warren Zaire-Emery (64′ for Vitinha) – 5/10
Subs not used: Tenas (GK), Mukiele, Hernandez, Kurzawa, Ugarte, Ndour, Soler
Manager
Luis Enrique – 3/10 – PSG’s coach had let everyone know: „We mustn’t drop off and underestimate our opponents. It won’t be an easy game.“ Perhaps he should have sent out a team that believed him.