PSG victorious over Saint-Étienne

By: j | February 14th, 2009

In a highly spirited match at Parc des Princes, PSG defeated Saint-Étienne 2-1 with goals by Mamadou Sakho and Jérémy Clément. Combined with Grenoble’s draw against Bordeaux, the Parisians are second in the table, one point behind l’OL. The match was not without controversy and Les Verts has good reason to be upset with some very questionable calls whereby both Stéphane Sessegnon and Claude Makélélé were not shown red-cards. Both situations are likely be reviewed and disciplinary action would not come as a surprise.

Be that as it may, the Parisians came out very fast at cut through l’ASSE 3-5-2 formation with early Péguy Luyindula and Ludovic Giuly threatened a few minutes in. Following a good linkup, Stéphane Sessegnon was sprung free on well weighted through ball but his effort was pushed off-course. However ten minutes into the match Stéphane Sessegnon retaliated against Blaise Matuidi hard foul with an obvious head-butt. While it was far from a knockout, referee Laurent Duhamel was very lenient handing out only a yellow card in what was a clearly violent intent. The heated play continued and four minutes before the half hour Mamadou Sakho, who turned nineteen yesterday, scored his first goal for PSG with a opportunistic header from close range. With Jérôme Rothen swinging in a corner from the right, Zoumana Camara nodded into to the net but it was pushed back by l’ASSE midfielder Paulo Machado straight towards the teen, who made no mistake. The lead did not last long as only eight minutes later Saint-Étienne brought the match level. Speeding down the right flank Paulo Machado drilled a powerful shot past Mickaël Landreau but in rang off the crossbar straight to Dimitri Payet, who half-volleyed it perfectly into the net. Now level, Ludovic Giuly took matters into his hands, coming strong down the right he drew back a stunning cross that was finished perfectly by Jérémy Clément coming up from his holding position. With the 2-1 lead, PSG definitely locked down the match and limited Saint-Étienne’s efforts going forward. In an highly disappointing turn of events, with twenty minutes remaining Claude Makélélé threw a two-footed lunging assault towards Yohan Benalouane that was both sickening in its intent but shocking for a player of his ilk. Without further incident the match concluded with PSG victorious 2-1.