August 21, (THEWILL) – Once again, there was no Lionel Messi and there was no Neymar for Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain in their third League fixture away at Brest but they still earned the victory over their resilient hosts to return home with all three points from their 4-2 win.
Their French centurion from last season, Kylian Mbappe, opened his account for the 2021/2022 campaign with only his fourth headed goal ever in the absence of Messi and Neymar, both of whom manager Mauricio Pochettino is still assessing for inclusion into the Matchday lineup.
That header was the second goal for PSG because Ander Herrera had opened the scoring seven minutes before the half hour mark. Without much in terms of opposing firepower, Les Parisiens appeared to be coasting until goalkeeper Keylor Navas allowed Brest a response.
Brest’s Romain Faivre showed positional awareness when cleared to goal as he chose to rather lay off the ball to the better chanced Franck Honorat with a lovely backheel pass. Honorat rifled a low screamer into the far bottom corner to halve the deficit three minutes from the interval.
However, PSG’s two-goal advantage was restored in truly appreciable fashion as Idrissa Gueye powered a long-range strike that left Marco Bizot, in the Brest goal, completely beaten. Just as it looked like that 73rd minute strike was enough to settle the game at 3-1, Brest found a way to close the gap on the scoresheet.
Stevie Mounie, just like Honorat before him, gained from the service of Faivre’s second assist of the night, and he set up a grandstand end to the game with a cool 85th-minute finish that was beautiful in execution, as he controlled the ball with his chest before driving it beyond Navas.
Although PSG appeared to be on the ropes in the final moments of the game, with the hosts fired up by the chance to get an equaliser and a point on their grounds, there was to be no dramatic comeback as Angel Di Maria demonstrated cool composure to lob the keeper and certify the PSG win only nine minutes after being on the pitch.
PSG showed the type of form many are going to expect of them even without their full squad numbers in yet. However, Pochettino will have a lot to do about his defense if he wants to make the best of the quality at his disposal this season and reach the expectations already pinned on his star-studded squad.
Les Parisiens are away again at Reims for their next engagement in Ligue 1 before the players are off for the international break. It leaves PSG fans, and the final world in general, who are waiting for Messi’s debut game having to wait some more. Fortune may have favoured an early debut for the former Barcelona legend after Mauro Icardi went off injured late on.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
