RC Strasbourg – Paris Saint-Germain: Le Racing Win the First Half Against PSG’s Rotated Side, but Lose the Match to the Regulars (1–3)

After taking the lead through Giovanni Reyna against PSG’s second-string side, Strasbourg crumbled far too easily when Paris brought on their key players. Ilya Zabarnyi, Ousmane Dembélé and Désiré Doué all got on the scoresheet, with Strasbourg players unfortunately involved in each goal.

Tactical analysis and match report by André Martins.

Life is definitely not easy for RC Strasbourg and their manager, Hugo Oliveira. “I don’t like making excuses, but the long international break caused a lack of physical and mental freshness that hurt us,” the Portuguese coach said at his pre-match press conference, explaining his team’s poor form after failing to win any of their three Ligue 1 fixtures. Make that four now.

Just as his team looked comfortably on course to secure one of their home wins at their own ground, Luis Enrique brought his usual starters off the bench and unleashed chaos on the pitch.

Strasbourg fielded one of their strongest XIs. Filip Jørgensen in goal, protected by a back four of Oso, Karim Coulibaly, Jeyland Mitchell and Genesis Antwi. A double pivot of Pape Diop and Dário Essugo, behind Fábio Baldé, Giovanni Reyna and Gessime Yassine, supporting centre-forward Conrad Harder.

After an exhausting midweek win over Manchester City in the Champions League, Luis Enrique decided to rest several of his key players for this trip to Alsace, while sticking to his usual 4-3-3 shape. Matvey Safonov . . .