Paris-Saint Germain Kick Off Ligue 1 Title Defense with 4-1 Victory Over Le Havre
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) defeated Le Havre 4-1 on Friday to kick off their 2024–2025 Ligue 1 campaign in grand fashion.
Their victory is their first in a competition since Kylian Mbappe, their star attacker, moved to Real Madrid.
Ibrahim Mbaye, 16, began the Paris Saint-Germain team’s opening Ligue 1 match against Le Havre on the left wing.
In their first match since star player Kylian Mbappe left for Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain won 4-1 in Le Havre on Friday to start their Ligue 1 title defence.
In Normandy, Lee Kang-in gave PSG the lead after just three minutes, only for Gautier Lloris to level the score. However, goals in the last minutes from Bradley Barcola, Ousmane Dembele, and a penalty kick from Randal Kolo Muani clinched the win for the defending French champions.
Luis Enrique’s team finally prevailed easily, with their substitutes ultimately making the difference as PSG’s depth proved to be too much for a team that narrowly avoided relegation the previous season.
The Spanish coach of PSG declared, “It’s a very good start. It’s the first game back.”
Kolo Muani, Dembele, and Barcola, the three French internationals, started the match on the bench. Joao Neves, a midfielder for Portugal, made his debut at halftime after coming from Benfica for a possible sum of 69.9 million euros ($76.7 million) including bonuses.
Le Havre, however, will question what could have happened if VAR had not rejected a goal by Josue Casimir for a handball, which would have given them the lead early in the second half. Luis Enrique continued, “We had highs and lows, but the substitutes did a lot of good for us.”
“There is room for improvement, but the final score hides this. We gave up a number of simple balls, and things might have turned out differently if we had been behind 2-1.”
After Mbappe left the team in June, having scored 44 goals the previous season and amassed a club record 256 goals in his seven years there, PSG has not made any major additions to replace the tremendous gap left by his departure.
If Luis Enrique’s squad can replicate the results of the previous season, when they won every domestic title and advanced to the Champions League semifinals, that remains to be seen.
With left-back Nuno Mendes suspended and Fabian Ruiz not yet cleared to return after helping Spain win Euro 2024, the Spanish coach was missing a number of regulars.
Ibrahim Mbaye made his debut on the left wing. At sixteen, he is the youngest player in PSG’s starting lineup, joining Yoram Zague and Warren Zaire-Emery, who are both eighteen.
The goal was opened by South Korea’s Lee, who received a pass from Goncalo Ramos on the right side and used a deflection to fire a shot into the far corner.
After Ramos was substituted due to an ankle injury, Kolo Muani struck a header that struck the crossbar with force, dealing a blow to the visitors.
In their debut match under new manager Didier Digard, Le Havre got better as the match progressed, and shortly before the half-hour mark, Abdoulaye Toure’s goal was disallowed for offside.
Three minutes into the second half, Lloris, the brother of former France captain Hugo, headed home a free-kick from Christopher Operi to tie the score.
On minute 53, the home team appeared to have grabbed the lead when captain Casimir broke through for a goal, but VAR disallowed his attempt following a thorough review for a handball.
Lee had hit the crossbar before Dembele, who had been brought on for the last twenty minutes, headed home a Neves cross to give PSG the lead once more on minute 85.
A minute later, Barcola curled in a fantastic third, and Kolo Muani won and converted the game-winning penalty to give the visitors the victory at the Stade Oceane.
On Saturday, the runners-up from the previous season, Monaco, take on Saint-Etienne, while Roberto De Zerbi‘s debut match as Marseille’s manager takes place away against Brest, who unexpectedly finished third in the previous campaign.
