PLAYER RATINGS | PSG 1-1 Reims: Ligue 1 leaders held to home draw before Champions League decider | OneFootball

Ligue 1 McDonald’s, Round 19, 25/01/25

PSG have been held to a draw by Luka Elsner’s Reims side. In-form PSG winger Ousmane Dembélé opened the scoring, courtesy of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, but the visitors responded through Keito Nakamura. Second-placed Marseille can cut PSG’s lead to seven points.

The Match

Sandwiched between two crucial Champions League ties, PSG’s home Ligue 1 game against Reims served as the best opportunity for Luis Enrique to field Khvicha Kvaratskhelia as Les Parisiens‘ €70m signing is ineligible to feature in the UCL group stage. The Spaniard tweaked his side with a back three when in possession, with right-back Warren Zaïre-Emery slotting in his preferred midfield area.

PSG dominated possession, pinning Reims in their own half. The visitors struggled to contain the hosts’ press. Reims head coach Luka Elsner had Yehvann Diouf to thank for as the goalkeeper was imperious to deny Gonçalo Ramos not once but twice in the first half.

As half-time beckons, Reims grew in confidence and found some flaws in transition. Keito Nakamura beat the offside trap but Gianluigi Donnarumma stood firm to parry his effort away.

Minutes into the second half, PSG opened the scoring and Kvaratskhelia played a big part in doing so. The Georgia international darted from the left to play a clever one-two with Désiré Doué before feeding his opposite number, Ousmane Dembélé, whose strike took a heavy deflection from Cédric Kipré on his way home.

Reims restored parity only ten minutes after Dembélé’s opener. The excellent Diouf saw Nakamura had yards of space on PSG’s right side and released him swiftly. The Japan international found his fellow countryman, Junya Ito, whose cross was smartly deflected by Marshall Munetsi for Nakamura to apply a delicate bottom-corner curling finish past Donnarumma.

The strain from PSG’s grueling midweek Champions League win against Manchester City was keenly felt as Les Parisiens’ intensity levels dropped a bit. Luis Enrique also took the liberty to experiment with Kvaratskhelia going from the left wing to a false 9 role and eventually to the bench with the Spaniard relying on a front three of Doué, Asensio and Barcola to force a win.

Reims held firm to leave Parc des Princes with a point, becoming the second Ligue 1 side to do so this season after Nantes. With Achraf Hakimi, Marquinhos and João Neves all rested before PSG’s possibly season-defining Champions League tie at Stuttgart, Les Parisiens could see their lead cut to 7 points tomorrow night.

PSG player ratings

Gianluigi Donnarumma – 6

Warren Zaïre-Emery – 4

Lucas Beraldo – 4

Lucas Hernandez – 5

Nuno Mendes – 5

Kang-in Lee – 5

Fabian Ruiz – 4

Désiré Doué – 5

Ousmane Dembélé – 6

Gonçalo Ramos – 4

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia – 6

A promising debut from the Georgia international. For his first start in nearly a month following his Napoli exit, the No. 7 has looked a voluntary but rusty outlet down PSG’s left wing. He registered his first goal contribution, an assist for Dembélé. Replaced as a false 9 before making way for Marco Asensio in the final ten minutes.

Selected Reims player ratings

Yehvann Diouf –  7

The Reims goalkeeper arguably produced the game’s best performance. He prevented Ramos from punishing a mistake from Kipré and came up big to deflect another of his attempts on his post. There’s little he could have done about Dembélé’s goal, but he initiated the transition that led to Nakamura’s equalizer.

Keito Nakamura – 6

Marshall Munetsi – 6

GFFN | Bastien Cheval