Quentin Ndjantou makes first PSG start in disappointing draw at Lille

Young PSG midfielder Quentin Ndjantou, 18 years of age, made his first PSG start and played ninety minutes last night, as a very young PSG side drew away to LOSC Lille. Ndjantou was joined in the starting XI by other PSG Academy graduates Senny Mayulu and Ibrahim Mbaye, both of whom had started midweek against Barcelona in the Champions League.

The game was one of relatively few clear cut chances, as Bradley Barcola wasted one of PSG's few big opportunities on the breakaway before halftime, as his heavy touch let him down and he dragged a poor shot well wide of the goal. Nuno Mendes, who came on to replace Barcola at the hour mark, curled a delicious free-kick into the top corner for the opening goal of the game, before Ethan Mbappé (observed in the crowd by his older brother Kylian) equalised against his former side, his low shot squirming under Lucas Chevalier.

It was another arguably poor piece of goalkeeping from Chevalier, who failed to keep out Mbappé's relatively tame effort, although there were bodies between him and the ball that obscured his view. It adds to the mistake made by Chevalier in the 'Classique' against Marseille a few weeks ago, and PSG fans will hope that their new man between the sticks will up his game after the international break.

Quentin Ndjantou made his first professional start with PSG

The result leaves PSG top of the league with sixteen points, one point ahead of Marseille, Strasbourg and Lyon, all of whom will be glad to still be in touching distance with PSG at this stage of the season. Luis Enrique will point to injuries as the reason for this relatively slow domestic start (by PSG's lofty standards), and indeed, the inclusion of youngsters like Ndjantou is also testament to the sheer number of health issues suffered by the Champions of Europe over the first couple of months of the season.

Ndjantou will be pleased with his debut, as he performed a difficult role with ease. Filling in for world class players such as Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz is not an easy task, but Ndjantou looked comfortable on the ball, completing 86% percent of his attempted passes, creating two chances, and dropping back into the backline when required, rotating positions with Lucas Hernandez at points in the first half. It will be a pleasing sight for Enrique, who will know he can potentially trust Ndjantou to fill in among the midfield positions in Ligue Un games in the future.

Indeed, to further highlight the injury woes suffered by the Parisians, PSG's midfield yesterday consisted of Kang In Lee, Ndjantou and of young Senny Mayulu, two of whom are natural wingers playing out of position and one of whom was an 18 year old making his first senior start for the club. Factoring in Warren Zaire-Emery filling in at right back, and the numerous attacking injuries, a draw wasn't actually too bad of a result for PSG, for whom the international break perhaps came at the perfect time.

The night was further marred for Paris by the celebrations in the crowd of Kylian Mbappé, who was shown celebrating Lille's equalizer. This, of course, is perfectly understandable, given that the goalscorer was his younger brother, but caused some agitation online among PSG supporters, who felt that club legend and all time PSG top scorer Mbappé could have been more discreet when showing his joy at the sight of PSG conceding a goal.