PARIS — Bradley Barcola returned to scoring form after Paris Saint-Germain’s 3-0 win over Stade Rennais in Ligue 1 on Friday night, which was secured by the France international. The 22-year-old netted his fifth and sixth goals of the season with an unerring 30th-minute finish and finally secured Les Parisiens’ fifth win of the campaign with an easier 69th-minute effort. It was Barcola’s first goals after three scoreless outings with the French champions — his fourth if you include Les Bleus.
Goals in the wins over Havre AC, Montpellier HSC (two), Lille OSC and Italy were followed by blanks against Belgium, Stade Brestois 29, Girona FC and Stade de Reims so hitting the back of the net will be welcomed by the former Olympique. Lyonnais man. It will also be a relief for Luis Enrique ahead of next week’s UEFA Champions League tie at Arsenal in the new-look League Stage, which will see the French giants look to build on their opening win over the Spanish debutants.
Barcola plays an important role for PSG now as not only one of the team’s main attacking threats, but also because he occupies the closest role to that of former talisman Kylian Mbappe, who has now moved to Real Madrid. With main hitman Goncalo Ramos and false nine Marco Asensio both injured, Paris’ French star is picking up much of the slack alongside Ousmane Dembele, who carried him for his opening goal at the Parc des Princes here.
“We gave a lot,” Barcola said postgame. “I felt good and gave what I could. I’m happy with the result. We pressed a lot and defended together. Offensively, we also moved forward together. We got tired towards the end, that’s why we conceded chances, but we played well. I very like to go one-on-one so I’m comfortable with space so I can go shoot, pass, or provoke something for all of us. We did a good job and I’m happy. We can go far — we’re unstoppable when we play like that. “
With Barcola on the left and Dembele on the right, PSG have balance on both wings with both players capable of cutting into teams at will. Ramos’ absence is felt through the middle with neither Asensio nor Kang-in Lee able to adequately fulfill a false nine role but the French pair’s collective 10 goals and three assists illustrate how important both are to this Paris side under Luis Enrique, as they get ready for another major European excursion.
The assumption is that PSG are weaker without Mbappe, but that is not strictly true as the Ligue 1 leaders look more balanced and capable of turning on the style to devastating effect than they have in a long time. Barcola is a key reason for this and already showed glimpses of his huge potential last term in Paris, but his compatriot’s departure has accelerated his arrival as a regular member of the starting XI and he has shown the end product to match – until now.
Luis Enrique’s final challenge with this Paris attack is to find a reliable central attacking option that can offer enough of a regular goal threat without compromising the Spanish tactician’s preferred style of build-up. It is possible that Randal Kolo Muani is that solution, but Asensio and Lee were given the early chances despite the French striker’s improved form in front of goal, which suggests that perhaps Ramos is expected to complete the preferred front.
Should that be the case, we are likely to see PSG remain reliant on the strong individual and collective form of Barcola and Dembele for the coming games. On form like this, it’s hard to argue with the former as he could easily have had one or two more and even provided Lee’s goal with a shot from range that crashed off the woodwork. When he departed with 20 minutes to play, the home side were well on their way to another convincing success in which he played a key role.
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