Two weeks after their convincing league victory in Nice (0–4), Paris Saint-Germain returned to Ligue 1 action at the Parc des Princes, in a clash between two teams in the top half of the table against Toulouse. On their home turf, the Rouge et Bleu quickly took control, and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia fired the first shot with a powerful right-footed effort, saved by Guillaume Restes (3'). A few minutes later, the Georgian winger couldn't quite reach the ball to get a shot away in front of the Toulouse goalkeeper (8'). These two early warnings forced the Violets to tighten up their defence, until Ousmane Dembélé produced a moment of genius from the edge of the box to give Paris the lead (1-0, 23').
It seemed as though the hard work was done for Luis Enrique’s men, but that was far from the case. Just before the half-hour mark, the visitors struck back through a set-piece – an area in which they are known to excel. Captain Rasmus Nicolaisen was lying in wait following a corner, and the Dane headed home to level the score (1-1, 27'). The game was hotting up, but the Parisians then beat the Toulouse side at their own game: from a corner taken by Lee Kang-In and flicked on at the near post by Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembélé showed his predatory instincts in the box to score his second goal of the game to put his side back in front (2-1, 33’).
In the second half, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia once again caused problems for the Toulouse defence, but his effort went wide (51'). Backed by the home crowd, the capital club were pushing for a third goal, but Ousmane Dembélé was rightly denied a hat-trick for offside (54'). The Violets struggled to lay a finger on the Parisians and only rarely managed to get near the home side's penalty area. In contrast, the Parisians capitalised on another corner to test Guillaume Restes, who made a decisive save against Willian Pacho and Illia Zabarnyi (63').
Despite Luis Enrique’s men failing to extend their lead against visitors who were determined and solid in defence, they were nevertheless able to rely on their overall dominance, which left Toulouse with no hope of getting back into the game. In the Parisian goal, Matvey Safonov did not have to make a single save during the match, whilst Gonçalo Ramos took advantage during the final moments to seal his team’s victory with a delicate curled shot, which struck the post before ending up in the Toulouse net (3-1, 90+2).
In a match they dominated from start to finish, Paris Saint-Germain beat Toulouse and continued their pursuit of the Ligue 1 title, moving provisionally four points clear of Lens. It was the perfect way to prepare for the Rouge et Bleu’s next fixture, a home match against Liverpool next Wednesday evening at the Parc des Princes in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. The stage is set.
