PSG succumb to late Sporting Lisbon blow

On paper, last night seemed as though it would be, if not a walk in the park, certainly a routine win for PSG. They came into the game fresh off a comfortable win against Lille, with star attackers coming back into form and against a side who, despite a strong European record, they should be comfortably beating. There were flashes of brilliance from PSG: Ousmane Dembélé showed glimpses of genius: with one powerful run down the right in particular a reminder of just why he was voted the best player in the world; and Desiré Doué, back from injury, was also close to his creative best.

Sporting Lisbon and Luis Suarez stunned PSG

But overall it was a blunt performance that saw the Parisians, despite applying near constant pressure, fail to ever truly assert themselves into the game, which eventually allowed Sporting to score against the run of play (not once, but twice, in between which was sandwiched a glorious Khvicha Kvaratskhelia equaliser). It’s tempting to put this result down to sheer bad luck (which was partially true, the Parisians had three goals disallowed and dominated the game) but there is now a slightly concerning pattern in PSG’s season: a tendency to let games slip against sides in spite of domination.

This season, the European Champions have lost to Marseille and Monaco in the league, Paris FC in the cup last week, and now Sporting, all in games that they should have comfortably won. In addition to this, there have been a number of disappointing draws in all competitions, once again in games that were mostly dominated by the French side. So far, this weakness has only cost PSG the French cup – but it must be nipped in the bud if PSG want to compete on the two remaining fronts: that of Ligue Un and of the Champions League.

Another concerning feature of last night’s European defeat was the costly mistake made by Lucas Chevalier. Just as it seemed as though the French shotstopper had finally turned a corner and hit a rich vein of improved form, PSG’s goalkeeper parried a late Sporting shot straight into Luis Suarez’s (no, not that one) path, as the Sporting attacker proceeded to nod into the net. It’s a return, for Chevalier, to the patchy early season form that eventually saw him dropped in favour of Matvei Safonov in December.

Looking forwards, PSG will have to try to regroup ahead of this weekend’s trip to Auxerre, in which a win could be absolutely vital given that current league leader Lens travel to Marseille in what potentially could be a tricky game for the side from Calais. PSG will then host Newcastle next week, in what is a must win game if they wish to be certain of securing automatic qualification for the knockout phases in order to avoid the hastle of having to play two extra knockout games.