Three days after winning 4-2 at Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain found another test waiting in Strasbourg, where a heavily altered side had to fight back before sealing a 3-1 Ligue 1 victory.
The Ligue 1 news
PSG rotated extensively following their Champions League success at the Etihad Stadium, but Luis Enrique’s changes initially left the French champions under pressure against a Strasbourg side that created a number of openings.
The match turned when the established names arrived from the bench. Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué both scored, while Illya Zabarnyi began the comeback with Paris’s 77th-minute equaliser.
It was an important moment for the Ukrainian defender, who has endured a difficult start to the campaign. Zabarnyi’s goal gave PSG the platform to turn the contest around and leave Strasbourg with three points.
“Strasbourg are a good team,” Zabarnyi said after the game. “It is difficult to come back to the league after Champions League football, but I saw a team today that wanted to win.”
He also pushed back against the frequent dismissal of Ligue 1 as an easy championship for PSG.
“Playing in Ligue 1 is not easy for us,” he said. “People joke about it being a ‘Farmers League’, but playing for Paris Saint-Germain in the French league is far from easy. It was a hard match. You saw the chances Strasbourg made and how well they played, but we were better today.”
His comments came in the wake of remarks from Manchester City coach Enzo Maresca following Wednesday’s defeat to PSG. Maresca suggested Paris could rest players before European matches, unlike his own side when travelling to Anfield, and pointed to the contrast he sees between Ligue 1 and the Premier League.
Luis Enrique had already answered that argument on Friday. The PSG coach said criticism of the club’s domestic competition has followed Paris regardless of their results in Europe.
“That is the usual noise around PSG,” Luis Enrique said. “Even before I arrived, I heard that Paris would not win the Champions League because of the level of the league. Now that the club have won it, people say it is because of that level. There will always be people complaining. We are trying to win every match.”
Next appointment in France
PSG now have only three days to recover before Barcelona visit the Parc des Princes for a major Champions League meeting. The Strasbourg comeback ensured Luis Enrique’s side approach that fixture with another league win behind them, but the performance also underlined the demands created by their crowded schedule.
