Paris Saint-Germain was kicked out of Coupe de France 2022 by OGC Nice in a Round of 16 fixture, played in Parc des Princes on February 2nd 2022.
It was an intense and tiring spell of 90 minutes, as only 3 minutes of added time were awarded, the game moved to penalties and Marcin Bulka blocked Leandro Paredes and Xavi Simons’ shot, saving his club’s chances to win the title and to fight another day, meanwhile, Donnarumma stopped Andy Delort’s shot and that’s it, that shattered their dreams to hold the title for the third time in a row.
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Amazing Defensive Grips From Both The Sides
Pochettino’s side, who were playing in their home ground and Nice, both had an amazing span of 90 minutes, especially in the defensive area.
Position holding for midfielders and defenders, goalkeeper’s saves, stopping counters at the right times, interceptions, dribbles, pressings, falling to recover lost balls and running the extra mile to seize ball possession, the defensive masterclass from both the teams were an absolute joy to witness.
To stop counters and attacking rhythms pulsated by players like Lionel Messi, Verrati, Leandro Paredes, and Kylian Mbappe altogether is an achievement in itself, not only that, they managed to outscore them in penalties and eliminate the “All-Stars” champions completely out of the race.
Nice’s Defence faced a total of 10 shots attempted by PSG, blocked 4 of them, 2 went off the post and 4 were on the target but were denied by Marcin Bulka.
The defensive traps orchestrated by Christophe Galtier was getting more and more useful as the play went forward and the Paris side started to struggle more.
The 4-4-2 formation was useful since Thuram and Morgan looked after distribution and played as a double pivot while the left and right midfielders moved up the ball when needed in the box.
Anyways, neither of the teams found their way in each others’ nets whatsoever, leaving the chances of qualifying solely on penalties, which Nice proceeded to win by a cheeky 5-6 margin.
Nice will now play Marseille in the quarter-finals at their home ground and fight to keep Marseille from damaging their campaign.
Number Battle
                    
What Is Wrong With Leo Messi?
French Ligue 1 has not been very ‘Nice’ to Messi, since a huge part of his playmaking technique has changed after leaving FC Barcelona. It is quite tough to adapt to a new environment, playing style, judgements and space-making when you change leagues, but it’s about time now he should be coming back to his form because it’s time for UCL Round of 16s.
The Argentine was tested positive for Covid-19 a month ago and has been recovering since then.
This could be the reason that he didn’t step up in the game, no doubt he contributed a lot in play-making and created big chances too, but Messi is a potential goalscorer too and to expect him to score goals is not ‘expecting too much.’
It is the same reason as to why he wasn’t called up for FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, CONMEBOL against Chile and will not be there against Colombia either, sad isn’t it ?
The hearts of PSG fans have been shattered once again and the only hope for them to bring a trophy home has now settled upon the Champions League trophy.
Let’s see if they can break the curse and bring it to Paris or not.Â
