A little over a week after claiming their second league victory against Angers at the Parc des Princes (1-0), Paris Saint-Germain returned to Ligue 1 action with a trip to Toulouse. To try and secure a third win in a row, Luis Enrique lined up a central defensive pairing of Ilia Zabarnyi and Lucas Beraldo, in front of goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier. Achraf Hakimi, captain for the night, started on the right with Nuno Mendes on the opposite flank, while Vitinha took up the holding midfield role, flanked by João Neves and Fabián Ruiz. Désiré Doué and Bradley Barcola occupied the wings, supporting Ousmane Dembélé, who was deployed through the middle.
Determined to impose their game plan at the Stadium, Les Parisiens made the Violets endure a nightmarish opening quarter of an hour. Following a free kick taken by Vitinha, João Neves latched onto a fine lay-off from Bradley Barcola, controlled the ball on his chest with his back to goal and unleashed an overhead kick that flew into the top corner (0-1, 7’)! Just two minutes later, it was Bradley Barcola who found himself on the scoresheet, finishing from the left side of the box after being superbly played through by Fabián Ruiz, slotting home with a delicate outside-of-the-foot strike (0-2, 9’). In under ten minutes, Paris had broken down a Toulouse backline that had remained unbreached since the start of the season.
And the Rouge et Bleu weren’t done yet. João Neves once again lurking in the Toulouse box, chested the ball down before pulling off another acrobatic right-footed overhead kick that left Guillaume Restes rooted to the spot (0-3, 14’)! Overwhelmed by the visitors' relentless waves of attack, TFC couldn’t keep their heads above water. On the half-hour mark, Ousmane Dembélé extended the lead from the penalty spot with ice-cool composure, after Désiré Doué had drawn a foul (0-4, 31’). Backed by an impressive collective display, the club from the capital delivered an almost flawless first half, marred only by a scrappy goal conceded to Charlie Cresswell, who followed up at the second time of asking (1-4, 37’).
The deficit could have been cut further if not for Lucas Chevalier’s heroics, denying Franck Magri’s penalty before pulling off another save from Cristian Cásseres on the retake (45’+8)! A stunning double stop before the break, followed by yet more control from Paris after it: early in the second half, Ousmane Dembélé struck again from the spot as he picked up his second penalty of the evening, after Bradley Barcola had been fouled, restoring a solid lead (1-5, 51’). With over 83% possession in the first fifteen minutes after the restart, Luis Enrique’s men showed no signs of easing off.
Quite the contrary, the Rouge et Bleu continued to pounce on every possible opportunity. And it was João Neves, yet again, who capped Paris’s dominance with a hat-trick, unleashing a stunning strike from outside the box that rocketed into the top corner, leaving Guillaume Restes beaten once again (1-6, 77’)! Late on, Toulouse salvaged some pride through goals from Yann Gboho (2-6, 89’) and Alexis Vossah (3-6, 90’+1), but the Violets’ late surge came far too late.
At the end of a thrilling encounter, Paris Saint-Germain ran out convincing winners at the Stadium, sealing their third consecutive league victory of the season! Now it’s time for the international break before the club from the capital return to Ligue 1 action at the Parc des Princes in two weeks’ time, when they host RC Lens on the weekend of 14 September.
