A crucial victory in the race to maintain. Paris FC (PFC) won against OGC Nice (1-0), Sunday March 1, during the 24th day of Ligue 1thanks to a goal from Zimbabwean midfielder Marshall Munetsi (26e). An important success for the club which is now ranked 14e of the championship, with nine points ahead of Auxerre, 16th and first play-off, and one more than his opponent of the day (15e).
By winning against the Aiglons, Antoine Kombouaré, appointed new coach of the PFC on February 22 in place of Stéphane Gilli, launched his adventure with the capital club well. In the midst of a crisis, the latter had not won in the league for five games and a narrow victory in Nantes (2-1) on January 18.
At the Jean-Bouin stadium, where the PFC had not won for eight games and a success on October 3, against Lorient (2-1), Antoine Kombouaré’s players were manhandled by Nice in the first period. They could even have been behind if the referee had not canceled a penalty that he had initially awarded to Nice.
The strong choices of Antoine Kombouaré
For his first with the PFC, Antoine Kombouaré made strong choices by not retaining for this match Maxime Lopez, ex-captain of the club, the experienced Julien Lopez and Timothée Kolodziejczak, and one of the flagship recruits of last summer, the striker Willem Geubbels. Conversely, Kanak had entrusted the armband to Pierre Lees-Melou and established the Nigerian Moses Simon, often ghostly for his first season with the Parisian club.
“It’s not normal that this player has this level as we speak. We’re waiting for a man’s reaction first. Afterwards, on the pitch, we want to see a different player”had launched Antoine Kombouaré, before the match, about the player he had managed for a long time in Loire-Atlantique. Words which clearly resonated in the head of the winger, very restless on his left side, and whose shot repelled by Maxime Dupé, benefited Marshall Munetsi for the opening score (26e).
Lille and Brest strong
At the end of the match, the Ile-de-France residents suffered, even ending the match numerically inferior after the expulsion of Belgian defender Thibault De Smet (90e). But the PFC was able to hold on and thus gave itself some breathing space before its trip, during the next day, to the pitch of Olympique Lyonnais.
In the other matches of the afternoon, Lille beat Nantes at home (1-0) with a goal in the last seconds of the match from Nathan Ngoy (90ᵉ+ 3). With this second in a row, the Mastiffs (5th) temporarily return to the level of Olympique de Marseille (4th). At the end of an open match, Lorient and AJ Auxerre separated in a draw (2-2). One of the good operations of the weekend was ultimately for Stade Brestois, which gained two places in the standings after its narrow victory in Metz (1-0) thanks to the goal of Ludovic Ajorque (69th).
