Less than a week after getting their domestic campaign underway in ideal fashion with a 1-0 victory away to Nantes, Paris Saint-Germain returned not only to Ligue 1 action tonight but also to the Parc des Princes for another clash with a side from western France: Angers. In a bid to make it two wins from two in the league, Luis Enrique put out a centre-back pairing comprised of captain Marquinhos and Willian Pacho, with Lucas Chevalier between the sticks. Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes started in the full-back positions, while Vitinha was deployed in the engine room, alongside João Neves and Fabián Ruiz. Up front, Désiré Doué and Bradley Barcola occupied the wings to support the centrally placed Ousmane Dembélé.
Les Rouge et Bleu set the tone as early as in the first ten minutes of play, when they were already gaining a firm foothold in the Angers half and, with over 91% possession, were almost literally suffocating their opponents. Thanks to their lightning-quick reactions whenever they lost the ball, Les Parisiens left very few crumbs for their visitors, but Le SCO'splayers were prepared to be put under pressure and were fully intent on pushing the reigning French champions to their limits. As is often their task on home soil, Paris went in search of space behind an extremely compact opposition block, which was no mean feat for Luis Enrique's men, who had to wait until the 25th minute and a foul on Neves inside the box to earn their first opportunity of the match.
Despite the encouragement of the Virage Auteuil in front of him, though, Dembélé missed the target and, with it, the chance to score the game's opening goal. However, it takes more than that to silence the Parc des Princes faithful, who were in fine voice for their side's opening home game of the campaign and remained united behind their no. 10 and his teammates.
Having increasingly been found in space in the middle, Doué tried his luck from 20 yards with a shot that gave the Angers defence a fright shortly after the half-hour mark. The France international – who was facing his hometown club – was putting on a show over on the left wing, and he would later go to ground after some contact inside the penalty area, but Mickaël Leleu waved play on.
Les Rouge et Bleu would get their reward for their domination in the 50th minute, when Ruiz positioned himself well and stayed alert to a deflected cross from Doue to open the scoring. With the deadlock broken at last, it was going to be a long second half for the visitors, who were huddled in their defensive third without the ball. Les Parisiens were now beginning to make better and better use of their possession, with Vitinha omnipresent in midfield and Hakimi as proactive as ever on the wing, but Les Angevins weren't about to give up just yet and finally got out of their half of the pitch to go looking for an equaliser in the 68th minute, but Haris Belkebla was unable to find the target.
Les Noir et Blanc's hope was short-lived, however, as they were quickly subject to the capital club's collective control once again. Having scored the opening goal with his right foot, Ruiz came close to bagging himself a second in the 78th minute, this time with his side, but his effort shaved the outside of Hervé Koffi's goalpost. Shortly afterwards, Mendes got the better of the Angers defence over on the left flank and managed to get a shot on target, but Koffi intervened brilliantly to deny him. The waves of Parisian attacks were now crashing down on the Burkina Faso international's net one after the other, and he had his crossbar to thank for stopping yet another shot from Ruiz, this time with his left foot, with four minutes of normal time remaining.
AlthoughAlexandre Dujeux's men avoided conceding for a second time, they were unable to truly worry Les Rouge et Bleu at the other end, and, after a controlled performance from the first minute to the last, Paris Saint-Germain earned themselves a third straight win, their second in Ligue 1 and their first of the season at home. Les Parisiens will now get some rest before turning their attention towards their next league game, away to Toulouse next Saturday.
