Lens – PSG: Bradley Barcola amazed everyone!

Duel between the French champion and his runner-up from last season, this Sunday at the end of the 18th day of Ligue 1. Beaten in the first leg (1-3), the Lensois, eighth at kick-off, intended to take their on the other hand to get closer to European places. Facing Franck Haise’s men and in freezing cold, Paris Saint-Germain, a solid leader, was able to take advantage of the missteps of AS Monaco and OGC Nice to take an eight-point lead at the top of the table. championship. For this shock with the sweet scent of Europe, Luis Enrique, notably deprived of Achraf Hakimi or Kang-In Lee, opted for a 3-4-3. In Bayern Munich’s sights during this winter transfer window, Nordi Mukiele started on the bench, just like the new Parisian recruit, Lucas Beraldo. The defensive trio being made up of Marquinhos, Danilo and Lucas Hernandez. In midfield, Warren Zaire-Emery accompanied Manuel Ugarte, Vitinha and Carlos Soler, in a hybrid role. Finally, in the absence of Gonçalo Ramos and Randal Kolo Muani, once again replacements, Kylian Mbappé was surrounded by Ousmane Dembélé and Bradley Barcola, hero of the evening.

A potential holder!

Aligned on the left side of the Parisian attack, the former Olympique Lyonnais winger indeed lived up to the challenge. Unhappy at the start of the match, Przemyslaw Frankowski – who saw his penalty saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma (7th) – can attest to this. In his one-on-one with number 29 from Ile-de-France, the Polish piston was regularly disillusioned. Taken by the speed and technique of his evening opponent, the 28-year-old from Lens suffered too often. With confidence, Barcola multiplied arabesques and devastating deep shots. It was also on one of these that the Rouge et Bleu cooled the artesian atmosphere a little more. Perfectly served by Mbappé after an equally brilliant ball release from Danilo, the other great architect of this precious success, the Parisian striker was quick to open his foot and deceive the vigilance of Brice Samba, until then little worried (0-1, 30th). Stunned by this opening score, the Sang et Or did not regain the intensity shown in the first moments. In control (sometimes too much), PSG managed its lead before another flash from its number 21…

Found about thirty meters from the Lensois goal, Barcola slalomed between his opponents before being mowed down by Jonathan Gradit at the entrance to the area… Warned of a yellow card by Jérôme Brisard, the evening official, the Artesian defender finally saw red after VAR intervention. A decision inevitably contested by the residents of the Stade Bollaert-Delelis but rather logical with regard to the regulations: the Parisian starting alone at goal without the illicit and voluntary intervention of Gradit. X factor of this first act, without forgetting the decisive performances of Donnarumma and Danilo, Barcola thus allowed his team to approach the second act with numerical superiority. Never completely serene, the capital club finally took advantage of a new counter express to complete its success. Found by Dembélé behind the defense, Mbappé crossed his shot perfectly and definitively secured the three points (0-2, 89th). Enough to make the copy of Barcola, also involved in this goal, a little more telling. Present in the duel (12/17), serious defensively and still as impactful in his ball catches (7 successful dribbles out of 10 attempted: there are only 8 Parisians under QSI to have done better during an L1 match: Ben Arfa (1 time), Di Maria (1), Diarra (1), Lucas (4), Messi (3), Neymar (21), Pastore (1) and Verratti (3)), the one who sees his contract run until ‘in June 2028 also showed a great bond with Kylian Mbappé, like this exchange of passes in the area at the start of the last quarter of an hour (17 balls exchanged in total).

Luis Enrique is under the spell…

Author of his 2nd goal in Ligue 1 this season (2 assists), the twirling Barcola, sometimes criticized for his lack of offensive realism, was then logically congratulated by his coach Luis Enrique. “I trust him. We signed him because he has a lot of qualities. He’s fast, can do a lot of dribbling and he’s very young. He was in the right tempo and was unstoppable. Luis Campos is the man who recruited him, it’s always great to have him”first assured the Parisian technician at the microphone of Prime Video before repeating it again at a press conference. “Barcola was superb today. Gorgeous. These are important matches for a player in this position. He is practically unstoppable in one on one, very fast, good at finishing, good defensive work. We have several very young players in the team, with great potential and our objective is to exploit it. It gives us a lot of joy to know that players want to sign for PSG, to be part of our club. It’s one of our characteristics to want to give confidence to our young people”. A strong message sent by the former coach of La Roja who also decided to keep his attacking trio until the end of this shock, not making any changes to his attack line (Asensio, Kolo Muani and Ramos did not not contested for even a minute).

“We had a lot of intensity from the start, that allowed us to get into rhythm and score, it was a good match overall, there was better to do at certain moments. I have more and more trust from everyone, from the coach and teammates. My areas of improvement? I think I can improve on turnovers and reading the game.analyzed Barcola at the final whistle before detailing in the mixed zone. “We were more in control in the second half, perhaps we should have pressed to score this second goal and been calmer but that’s how it is, it’s good. I had a lot of fun, I had a lot of time to express myself, I really had a lot of fun, I’m happy. I don’t know if it’s my reference match but I’m happy. It’s important to have this connection in attack, even with the midfielders we have it more and more, it’s good, we work a lot in training and it’s a good thing for future matches.recognized the person concerned before concluding by sending a message to his coach: “this confidence from the coach frees me, that of my teammates too, I can only play well like that, the coach is close to us, to me, I arrived (at PSG, editor’s note) late so I had things to catch up and gradually I catch up with them”. This bodes well for the rest of his season, a little less so for that of Kolo Muani, Asensio and even Ramos, all of whom remained on the bench…