PLAYER RATINGS | Lille 1-3 PSG: Les Parisiens return to top of Ligue 1 in entertaining clash

Ligue 1 McDonald’s, Round 3, 01/09/24

Paris Saint-Germain would make it three wins out of three as they defeated Lille OSC 3-1 in an entertaining clash. Lille made life difficult for the reigning champions and will be ruing that they were not able to make the most of a night where they made PSG work for the three points.

THE MATCH

Luis Enrique’s side took the journey north to the Stade Pierre-Mauroy to contest a match that would decide who would finish game week three on top of the league. Lille and PSG both sat on even points coming into this game, a victory for either side would be enough to leap clear of the chasing pack, while a draw would take Les Parisiens to the top on goal difference. 

Bafodé Diakité came the closest to opening the scoring for the hosts when he connected with Edon Zhegrova’s drilled cross. The centre-back’s shot warmed the palms of Gianluigi Donnarumma who could only push the ball onto the post, a fortunate bounce rescuing PSG from an early setback. 

For the visitors, Ousmane Dembélé was given a couple of chances to test Lucas Chevalier. However, the goalkeeper came out top in each of their duels. The winger would still prove to be vital when he was clumsily brought down by Alexsandro in the penalty box. Vitinha stepped up and rolled the ball to the left tricking the rooted goalkeeper. 

Four minutes later, PSG would double the lead. Lille stormed forward down the right-hand side of the pitch. However, miscommunication between Zhegrova and Tiago Santos would see the ball returned to Les Parisiens. The visitors took advantage of Lille committing numbers forward as Bradley Barcola combined with Marco Asensio to make it 2-0. Barcola scoring his fifth of the campaign. 

Donnarumma was tested far more frequently in the second half. There was more urgency about the hosts as the second half wore on. Zhegrova and Santos began to combine well down the right and it looked as if the goal would come from one of these two players. It would take a while for this to come true with Zhegrova finding the back of the net in the 77th minute. 

An equaliser for Lille was disallowed four minutes later after Santos was found to be in an offside position. And any hope of a comeback was put to bed in injury time, Désiré Doué set up Randal Kolo Muani in the dying minutes to put Les Parisiens firmly on top of the Ligue 1 table.

Lille Player Ratings 

Lucas Chevalier, 7 – Despite letting three goals in, Chevalier was in good form throughout the evening. The scoreline could have been a lot worse if not for his reflexes. Lille have an excellent keeper and they are keenly aware of this. 

Alexsandro, 4 

Bafodé Diakité, 5

Aïssa Mandi, 5

Gabriel Gudmundsson, 5

Angel Gomes, 4 – Gomes had very little impact on the game following his return from a concussion. The midfielder was brought off with Haraldsson at halftime. It was clear that Lille needed to make a change as they were being completely dominated by the PSG midfield trio. 

Benjamin André, 5

Tiago Santos, 6

Hákon Arnar Haraldsson, 4 

Mohamed Bayo, 4 – Isolated until he was allowed to sit on the bench in the 65th minute after he was replaced by Jonathan David. The striker was living on scraps for most of the game and largely earned his place in the team because David started in the midweek fixture against Slavia Prague. 

Edon Zhegrova, 7

PSG Player Ratings

Gianluigi Donnarumma, 5

Willian Pacho, 6

Lucas Beraldo, 4 – Beraldo looks like the weakest link in this PSG team, which is hardly surprising considering that he is far from a first-choice centre-back and tonight he was used as a makeshift left-back.  The defender was lucky not to concede a penalty and often came out the worst in his duels with Zhegrova. 

Marquinhos, 5

Achraf Hakimi, 6

Vitinha, 7

João Neves, 7

Warren Zaïre-Emery, 6

Bradley Barcola, 8 -The winger continued his brilliant start to this season with another goal. He looked electric on the ball, a constant danger and if not for Chevalier he likely would have added to his already growing tally.