Paris Saint-Germain also won the second league game of the new season. The dethroned national champion won 4-2 against Strasbourg on Saturday evening, after last week’s 1-2 victory over Troyes. Strasbourg came back from a 3-0 deficit to 3-2, but was counted out after a red card in the final phase. Georginio Wijnaldum participated for 88 minutes; Xavi Simons was not in the PSG match selection.
The match was dominated by the presentation of acquisitions Wijnaldum, Achraf Hakimi, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos and Lionel Messi. The five were introduced to the public accompanied by fireworks; Hakimi and Wijnaldum were ‘normal’ in the starting line-up, just like last week, but Ramos (injured), Donnarumma and Messi are not available yet and took place in the stands. Messi sat next to his good friend Neymar. They saw Mauro Icardi open the scoring in the third minute. The attacker towered over Ibrahima Sissoko after a sharp cross from Abdou Diallo and nodded in the top right corner.
After 24 minutes, Kylian Mbappe made it 2-0. The striker cut into the penalty area from the left wing and sought the far corner, but his shot was violently deflected by Ludovic Ajorque and was therefore unstoppable for keeper Matz Sels. The goal was a nice boost for Mbappé, who was whistled and booed by the home crowd prior to the game. He reportedly does not want to renew his contract with PSG, as a result of which he threatens to leave on a free transfer next year. Mbappe is said to have set his sights on a free departure to Real Madrid and that does not seem to be appreciated by the fans.
A minute and a half later it was 3-0: Mbappé again broke through on the left wing, saw his cross change direction and enabled Julian Draxler to finish at the far post. There seemed to be no problem for PSG, but in the second half Strasbourg brought the tension back. Former PSG striker Kevin Gameiro made it 3-1 with a header on a pass from Adrien Thomasson, after which Ludovic Ajorque made it 3-2 with a powerful header from the box after a tight cross by Dimitri Lienard.
Strasbourg had to continue with ten men nine minutes before the end, because Aleksander Djiku made two fouls within two minutes and was booked both times. He first took down Pablo Sarabia and then gave Icardi a light push, although a yellow card might have been penalized a bit heavily for the second offence. PSG expanded the margin against ten men. Sarabia made it 4-2 four minutes before time. The steamed-up Mbappé made it to the back line in the penalty area and sent a tight pass to Sarabia, who struck from close range.