Attention focused on matches in England and France.

Safonov’s debut

When it became known that Gianluigi Donnarumma was injured, the question immediately arose: Safonov or Tenas. After all, the choice of Matvey over Arnau is not at all obvious, because the latter is more familiar to Luis Enrique, is more suited to European football and generally plays at a fairly high level. However, the technical staff PSG he trusted the former Krasnodar goalkeeper, who made his debut immediately in Paris in a Champions League match. Beautiful.

However, it will not be possible to collect much material to analyze Safonov’s game. Because he had very little to fight against. There were several interceptions, there was participation in transfers with partners when he went far enough from the goal. For Luis Enrique the goalkeeper’s footwork in these episodes is important. So it was necessary to show confidence and clarity in the interaction with the defense partners.

Perhaps the most striking episode was the gasp of despair in front of Viktor Tsygankov’s nose in the goalkeeper’s area. Protection PSG he missed Christian Stuani’s discount and Tsygankov could have scored at point-blank range, but Safonov effectively swept the ball away from the opponent’s foot, running bravely. Another episode that clearly attracted attention was Safonov’s dialogue before the second half with Randal Kolo Muani. Matvey was diligently trying to explain something to his partner, actively gesticulating. A banal episode, but it shows that the newcomer does not get lost in an unusual environment and tries to be the center of the team’s life.

From Hero to Loser

The life of Safonov’s colleague Paulo Gazzaniga was much more eventful. The Girona goalkeeper also did not work too hard in the first half. But after the break, the Parisians took control of the situation. The visitors managed to avoid three or four goals only thanks to Gazzaniga’s reaction and winning move. He also had a good sense of the moments when it was necessary to calm the football, slow down the pace and take time. In general, Gazzaniga was the fundamental force that powered the whole Girona, heroically repelling increasingly angry and impatient attacks. PSG.

And what an irony of fate. The player who was the absolute best on the pitch for 89 minutes of the match, finally brought victory to the opponent. It is unlikely that Nuno Mendes himself, who in his desperate dash from the left crossed the goalkeeper’s area, ever dreamed of such a success. And the result is a rebound and a missed goal after one of the most ridiculous errors of goalkeepers: between the arms and legs, under the stomach. Truly, football is capable of reserving the most incredible surprises and writing legendary stories.

Late pressure

But if anyone thinks so PSG “bounced” with this victory, then you are in vain. In fact, using the usual category of the deservedness of the result, we can say that the Parisians certainly played enough to win. If it were not for the legs of Gazzaniga and Ousmane Dembele, who threw the ball everywhere except the goal, Girona would have conceded more than one or two goals. Here is a missed two-nil by Usman, a shot in the sky from the center of the penalty area and a shot on the crossbar: errors for all tastes and all genres.

The Parisians can reproach themselves for a very passive first half, in which they hung around expecting Girona to surrender on their own. So in the first 45 minutes they scored six shots against the visitors’ zero, but not a single one was on target. Snatch and throw away that half. The second half proved to be more lively. PSG he forced the Spaniards to play a more open game, and they fell for it. Yes, this brought Girona three shots on target and also one on target. But compare the difference: PSG shot twenty times in the second half alone! True, only five attempts were successful. This is understandable, given that seven of the twenty shots in the first half were taken by Dembele. So football once again showed its dichotomy. The Parisians, on the one hand, tortured the victory, on the other they deserved it.

Exemplary defense

And in the central match of the day, no goals were scored. But that, by the way, could have been expected. Manchester City and Inter, who are among the main favorites at this stage of the Champions League, met too early. And that, by the way, is the problem with the new format. Yes, we continue to explore it for various features.

Of course, this was also the case in the previous format: when the clear favorites did not reveal all their cards in the first round and played the games much more boringly than one would expect from their names. And the new format with a series of fights with different opponents seems to suggest such an approach. Relatively speaking, both Manchester City and Inter understand that they are guaranteed to have weaker opponents in front of them. So why risk going all out now and giving a three-point advantage to your opponent, if you can split the points with him, and then calmly earn yours on simpler guys? This logic is especially true for the visiting teams in such pairs. It will be interesting to see whether it continues to work, to test the hypothesis, so to speak.

But in reality this match turned out to be not as sad as one might think, looking at the score. Inter built an exemplary defense against Manchester City, which no one in England has managed to cope with so far. Of course, the “city” team had some chances, controlling the ball more (60% of the time) and shooting more often (21 shots against 13). However, it was not some sort of rebound defense and desperate gnawing for an equalizer by Inter.

The Milanese tried to work precisely according to their plan of containment and counterattack. At times it seemed cute and smart. So the goalless draw is also to blame on Inter. However, they are haunted by the thought that the favorites will play each other and then score enough points for them, turning the final part of the draw into a formality, where only teams located on the border of different zones of the tournament table will fight for points, and far not the first echelon. This format has pitfalls.