Two weeks after beating Tottenham in a crazy match at the Parc (5-3), Paris Saint-Germain returned to Champions League action with a perilous Matchday 6 trip to Spain to face Athletic Club Bilbao. Formidable at home, the Basque side tried to put the Parisians under pressure from the kick-off, relying on intense pressing.
But Paris, true to their style of play, managed to keep control of the game and clear the vast majority of the danger, leaving their opponents with no opportunities. On the contrary, it was Luis Enrique's men who looked the more dangerous, with four shots in the first 20 minutes compared to none for the home side. However, it was Matvey Safonov who was called into action first, deflecting a cleverly taken free-kick from Alex Berenguer (31').
Faced with the Spaniards' high bloc, Paris found the solution by playing in behind the Basque defence. Bradley Barcola used his speed to lose his man and find Fabian Ruiz at the far post, but the Spaniard missed the target (37'). Just before the break, the Parisians came close to opening the scoring after a nice team move, but Unai Simón pulled off a great save to deny Senny Mayulu (45').
It was the same story after the break, when the Spain 'keeper once again our Parisian youth academy graduate (49'). The capital club increased their dominance, and Athletic were kept in it by Simón, who was again decisive as he dealt with a cross-shot from Warren Zaïre-Emery (53'). And even when the Leones' goalkeeper was beaten, there was the crossbar, which denied Bradley Barcola's shot after an exceptional team move down the left (65').
Despite the heated atmosphere at San Mamés, the Parisians kept believing until the very end, with Fabian Ruiz thinking he had done the damage only to be denied by Simón and then Yuri Berchiche, who made a decisive save off his line (87')! Thus Paris Saint-Germain and Athletic Club Bilbao left the pitch with honours even, despite the fact that our Rouge et Bleus deserved a much better outcome.
