PLAYER RATINGS | PSG 4-1 Le Havre: Substitutes secure late victory for Les Parisiens | OneFootball

Paris Saint-Germain began the defence of their Ligue 1 crown as they travelled to Le Havre in the opening night of action for the 2024/25 edition of the French top flight.

It didn’t take long for Luis Enrique’s team to get going either. A swift attacking move saw Ramos shifting the ball wide to Lee Kang-in to cut inside and bend the ball home beyond a helpless Desmas in the host’s goal. PSG had opened their account for the new season after three minutes. It was almost 2-0 to the champions inside ten minutes after a mix-up at the back but Le Havre managed to recover quickly.

Les Parisiens suffered an early injury blow in the 17th minute with Gonçalo Ramos forced off through injury. He was replaced by Randal Kolo-Muani. Le Havre hit the post from a corner and on the rebound Abdoulaye Touré was the quickest to convert but PSG were saved by the offside flag and retained their advantage. Kolo Muani almost doubled the lead with an instant impact but his header rattled against the bar.

Lee continued to be a threat throughout the first half and had one of the final chances of the half as he was played in behind but Desmas was out quick to deny the Korean international. Mbaye almost doubled the lead in added time but Desmas was once again equal to it. The French capital club had the advantage at the break.

After the break, Le Havre punished the PSG defence. Opéri’s deep free-kick was hit to the far post and Gautier Lloris hit the ball across the face of the goal and it nestled into the bottom corner to level the game. Casimir believed he had given the hosts a surprise lead but he was adjudged to control the ball with his hand before slotting past Donnrumma on the counter-attack and the goal was disallowed.

Lee continued to be a threat in the second half as he did excellently to find space and dispatch his effort but he hit the bar – the second time during the match for PSG. Ousmane Dembélé and Bradley Barcola were called on by Luis Enrique to find a winner and the former did just that. The France international rose higher than everyone in the area to give the champions the lead. Barcola then got in on the act. João Neves picked the former Lyon attacker out expertly and then after great skill the winger curled an effort inside the far post to give PSG all three points.

Things then began to fall apart for Le Havre as Kolo Muani was pulled down in the area and the visitors were awarded a penalty. The France international made no mistake from the spot and extended PSG’s lead further. This would be the last of the goalmouth action in the match as PSG had their substitutes to thank for securing an opening day victory late on.

PSG Player Ratings:

Gianluigi Donnarumma – 6

Achraf Hakimi – 5

Willian Pacho – 5

Lucas Beraldo – 5

Yoram Zague – 4, Defensively, the 19-year-old struggled to deal with the pace of Le Havre when they countered.  A couple of mix-ups at the back involving the left-back who played an inverted role. One of these instances was the Casimir disallowed goal where he missed the ball completely but the offside flag saved his blushes.

Warren Zaïre-Emery – 5

Vitinha – 7

Lee Kang-in – 8, The Korean international was the main attacking threat for Les Parisiens in the final third. Scorer of the first goal, the attacking midfielder was a menace with his runs in behind and showed real prowess with the way he took his goal. The former Sociedad man could be one to watch this term.

Ibrahima Mbaye – 5

Gonçalo Ramos – N/A

Marco Asensio – 6

GFFN | Liam Wraith