Although held to a draw by Lorient late on Saturday afternoon, the capital club still picked up a crucial point as the season draws to a close, especially as RC Lens were unable to do any better a few hours later away to OGC Nice (1-1). Paris Saint-Germain could even be crowned champions as early as next weekend, provided they beat Stade Brestois 29 (Sunday at 9pm at the Parc des Princes) and the Sang et Or fail to win against FC Nantes (Friday at 8:45pm at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis), or even if they lose at home but RCL fail to beat Les Canaris.
Paris, who had gone 20 Ligue 1 matches without a draw (16 wins, 4 defeats), shared the points in a league match for the first time since 29 October, when they drew 1-1 with… Lorient (1-1). With two draws (1-1 in the first game, 2-2 in the second), the Breton side are also the first promoted team to remain unbeaten against the Rouge et Bleu in a single Ligue 1 season since AS Monaco in 2013-2014. Ibrahim Mbaye and his teammates have scored at least one goal in their last 49 league matches at the Parc des Princes, dating back to 12 August 2023 and a 0-0 draw against… Les Merlus, a record run in the history of the capital club.
Luis Enrique’s men hit the woodwork three times against Lorient on Saturday. Since the start of the season, they have struck the opposition’s posts or crossbar 21 times in Ligue 1, which is at least five times more than any other team. Symbolising this lack of luck yesterday was the capital club’s left-back Lucas Hernandez, who became the second defender to hit the woodwork at least twice in a single league match over the last four seasons, after Tuomas Ollila with Paris FC. On another note, Senny Mayulu struck Yvon Mvogo’s left post in the 87th minute of the match, four days after hitting the same post of Manuel Neuer… in the very same minute of play, and on both occasions at the goal in front of the Boulogne stand!
With an average age of 23 years and 13 days, Luis Enrique (who managed Paris Saint-Germain for the 169th consecutive time on Saturday, equalling Georges Peyroche’s record and closing in on Laurent Blanc’s record of 173 consecutive matches) fielded the sixth-youngest Parisian starting XI of the season. Renato Marin (19 years and 9 months) became the youngest goalkeeper to play for Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 since Richard Dutruel against Lens on 25 April 1992 (19 years and 4 months).
Scoring immediately after coming on, the capital club’s midfielder Warren Zaïre-Emery found the net just 45 seconds after coming on, becoming the fastest substitute to score for Paris in Ligue 1 since Julian Draxler in September 2021 against Montpellier Hérault SC (21 seconds). Coming on for the final quarter of an hour of the game, the Rouge et Bleu forward Pierre Mounguengue became the 524th player in Paris Saint-Germain’s history.