Just as they did at the start of both 2024 and 2025, Luis Enrique's men began the new year with a win, although they certainly had to fight to take home the three points from their first derby against their Paris FC counterparts since 1978.
Having gone toe to toe with their direct neighbours for almost the entire first half, Les Rouge et Bleu opened the scoring just before the break thanks to an unstoppable strike from Désiré Doué, who finished off a lovely team move to net his third goal in his last four league matches. As a result, the reigning European champions found the back of the net for the 41st home game in a row, thereby extending their longest-ever streak of this kind in the French top flight.
Despite the visitors pulling level from the spot in the second half – which was the first penalty that last season's Ligue 1 title winners had conceded since a trip to Monaco in December 2024 – the Parc des Princes fans didn't have to wait long to be brought to their feet once again.
Just two minutes after that equaliser, Ousmane Dembélé got some help from a Moustapha Mbow deflection to completely wrongfoot the helpless Kevin Trapp and to continue his return to top form in the process, having now registered four goal involvements in his last four appearances across all competitions.
Although Dembélé and Doué were the names on the scoresheet for their side, the entire Paris Saint-Germain team deserves credit for last night's display. For the game's opening goal, it was Fabián Ruiz who found Doué in behind with a pass that eliminated several defenders to leave the no. 14 more or less with only Trapp to beat; in doing so, the Spain international provided his 24th assist since arriving in the French capital in the summer of 2022, thereby taking his total number of goal involvements to 40 in those two-and-a-half years and again showing his ability to raise his game when it truly matters.
Meanwhile, Warren Zaïre-Emery notched up the seventh assist of his career in Ligue 1 as it was his pass out wide that helped the aforementioned Dembélé to put the hosts in front. As if to demonstrate his adaptability and his team spirit, Zaïre-Emery's seven league assists have been for seven different players: Marco Asensio, Achraf Hakimi, Bradley Barcola, Lee Kang-in, Senny Mayulu, Désiré Doué and now Dembélé.
