Paris Saint-Germain traveled to western France to take on FC Nantes. The capital club wanted to carry the positive momentum following their UEFA Champions League first-leg win over Real Madrid. However, that didn’t occur.
FC Nantes got out to a 3-0 lead after 45 minutes. PSG scored early in the second half, but the French giants missed plenty of scoring chances. Although they didn’t have the finishing touch, the refereeing in the match was at the forefront.
Les Parisiens committed ten fouls and were handed six yellow cards; meanwhile, Nantes had 16 fours and only received two yellow cards. After the match, manager Mauricio Pochettino was asked during his press conference whether the refereeing was the reason his squad loss.
“You have to separate things and not put the blame on the referee. We didn’t lose because of the referee, but he was important. The criteria were not the same for the two teams, they were not judged in the same way, and for that, I can understand the nervousness of the sporting director (Leonardo) and the players (…) The first action of the match, it is for us, but in continuity, we concede a goal.”
“We did good things, even very good things offensively, but we couldn’t counter them defensively, and then there were a lot of accidents in this game. In terms of affinity, ball circulation, Neymar, Mbappé, and Messi produced a very good production; it’s a shame that we haven’t mastered the other facet, defensive vigilance. This would have enhanced the performance of our forwards.”