Paris St Germain 1-1 AS Monaco ( att : 46,000 ) - France 2022/23 Ligue 1

August 28, 2022

Another afternoon watching PSG in a local Caribbean bar, and after last week’s exhilarating 7-1 victory at Lille it would surely be another exhibition as PSG cantered to victory on their way to a perfect 38 game league record ? Monaco, today’s opponents had been thrashed 1-4 at home by Lens in their last outing so surely PSG would easily put them to the sword ? After all, despite finishing a distant third to PSG last season, the current Monaco side are a far cry from the team that reached the final of the Champions League in 2004, where they lost to Jose Mourinho’s Porto.

However, Monaco hadn’t read the script, and with a carefully sculptured game plan from Belgian coach Philippe Clement ( 38 caps and ex-Beerschot, Brugge, Genk and Coventry City ) they proceeded to dominate the first half. Whereas last weekend Lille had tried to defend against PSG’s attacking armoury, instead Monaco employed an aggressive midfield tackling and high press approach, denying PSG any space in midfield and to starve their illustrious forward trio of the ball. As a blueprint for all other opponents of PSG it worked, as in the first-half the hugely impressive Mail international Mohamed Fofana ( 15 caps ) and Youssouf Camara stamped out any midfield play from PSG, and were able to launch counter-attacks for their own side.

PSG’s weaknesses were illustrated by the goal they conceded in the 20th minutes. Messi had the ball in midfield and dillied and dallied as he chose the forward options. Camara’s decisive tackle won possession and whilst Messi lay on the ground looking helpless, the ball was worked forward and ex-Bayer Leverkusen German international Kevin Volland ( 15 caps ) showed enough strength to fend off Kimpembe and stroke the ball into the corner to give the visitors the lead.

Unfortuantely, Volland appear to suffer from a hamstring injury in scoring and had to be replaced. However, the pattern of the game didn’t change as Monaco proceeded to win all the tackles in midfield and caused danger to the PSG defence. Certainly, the way Monaco pressed highlighted the weakness of PSG playing a back three, and the reluctance of PSG’s midfield to track back showed the way better teams would succeed against PSG as it was often 3 vs 3. 

There can’t have been many other matches in his distinguished career in which so many of Messi’s passes went to an opponent, and a series of short passes in the congested midfield then led to Monaco counter attacking. Indeed, if Monaco had forwards of a higher calibre they could easily have led by three or four goals but for final passes going astray or failing to see the right option. As it stood, they only led 1-0 at the interval.

However, that is not to say that PSG didn’t create chances of their own, and with their one chance of the first half, Messi’s fabulous 30 yard effort crashed off the post only to fall to Mbappe with an open goal, but the ex-Monaco striker put the rebound against the other post.

After Monaco’s first half tactical domination, PSG became more assertive but failed to get a grip of the game until the closing stages. Whilst the threats from Monaco became less frequent as their efforts started to take a toll, the danger from PSG was being comfortably dealt with by Kamara, Fofana and co until Neymar fell to the floor with 20 minutes to play. Indeed, the game continued for a good two minutes until play was stopped, and initially it was thought that the VAR review was on a nasty foul on a Monaco player and a possible red card to PSG.

Instead, it focused on Neymar's fall in the Monaco penalty area, and whilst there was some contact it was hardly a foul. The ex-pros in the studio would probably be trotting out the old cliché “there was contact so it is a penalty” but Neymar made sure he made contact with Maripan, who could hardly get out of the way. In real time it looked like a dive, but once VAR advised the referee to look at the pitch side monitor there was only going to be one outcome. Neymar coolly slotted away the spot kick to bring PSG to parity.

Understandably Monaco were put under pressure, and introduced Minamino ( ex-Liverpool ) and Swiss international Embolo to help stem the tide. Neymar was denied at point blank range by German keeper Nubel, who is on loan from Bayern Munich, Hakimi sent a swerving long-range effort against the outside of the post and Mbappe missed a great opportunity near the end as Monaco carelessly gave away possession with numbers committed forward, but Nuber bravely saved the thunderbolt with with his chest.

Messi’s unfortunate evening ended as he was substituted three minutes before the end, and PSG’s frustrations were demonstrated as they lost their tempers after an innocuous challenge deep into injury time and initiated a mass brawl. Despite having only 33% of the possession the Monegasques held on for a well deserved point. Paris St Germain remain top on goal difference, now level on points with Marseille and Lens.

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQqEuyDxQJw

Paris St. Germain : Donnarumma – Ramos, Marquinhos ( Mukiele ), Kimpembe – Hakimi, Verratti, Sanches ( Danilo ),  Mendes – Neymar, Mbeppe, Messi ( Sarabia )

AS Monaco : Nubel – Maripan, Badisashile, Disasi – Aguilar, Camara ( Jean Lucas ), Fofana, Golovin ( Minamino ), Henrique - Ben Yeddar, Volland ( Akliouche, Embolo )

MSK Zilina 2-0 MFK Zemplin Michalovce ( att : 1,312 ) – 2022/23 Slovakia Fortuna Liga

August 26, 2022

These diaries have previously made one review of the Slovakia Fortuna Liga, providing an update as at the mid-winter break of the 2021/22 season. With some matches now being lived streamed on www.onefootball.com it is an ideally opportunity to sample Friday’s early kick-off !

I have seen MSK Zilina play live on one occasion, a match at Inter Bratislava in 1999 at the Pasienky Stadium, with fewer than 2,000 in attendance, which Inter comfortably won 2-0. The Inter side that night included Szilard Nemeth, who scored one of the goals, who went on to win 58 caps and play for Middlesborough, centre-back Roman Kratochvil who scored the other goal and went on to play for Denzlispor and win 36 caps, midfielder Marian Lilak, who went on to play for Panionios and Aris Limassol, and Peter Nemeth, who went on to win 22 caps and play for Eintracht Frankfurt.

For Zilina, Marek Mintal went on to be a legend at FC Nurnberg and won 45 caps for Slovakia. I have no experience of watching MFK Zemplin Michalovce.

After Slovan Bratislava, MSK Zilina are the most successful side in the history of the Slovak league since its inception in 1993 after the break-up of Czechoslovakia, with 7 titles to their name. The last of these titles was in 2016/17.

There were stories of Zilina facing financial troubles at the start of the 2020/21 season, which included having to field a very youthful team against Welsh side The New Saints in the Europa Conference, which resulted in a 1-3 loss after extra-time. However, things appeared to quickly stabilise and Zilina eventually finished fourth in the Fortuna Liga that season.

In 2021/22 they ended up in 6^th place in the Fortuna Liga, but had a decent run in the Europa Conference League, getting past Dila Gori of Georgia ( 6-3 on aggregate ), then Apollon Limassol of Cyprus ( 5-3 ), Tobol of Kazakhstan ( 6-0 ), before succumbing to Czech side FK Jablonec in the play-off round. Perhaps their most notable result in their European competition history is a 2-1 win at Aston Villa in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup.

So far this season Zilina had a 2-3-1 record in the league to sit in 6^th position, with the one defeat coming in their last outing, a 1-3 loss at champions Slovan Bratislava. Prior to that, home victories had been recorded against Dukla Banska Bystrica ( 4-1 ) and Fc ViON Zlate Moravce ( 1-0 ) as well as a home draw against DAC Dunajska Streda ( 0-0 ). Away from home, draws at Trencin ( 0-0 ) and Spartak Trnava ( 2-2 ) were secured prior to the loss at Slovan.

Zilina is a city in the north-west of Slovakia, around 100km from Ostrava in the Czech Republic and 200km from the capital Bratislava. The population of the city is just over 80,000.

Home for Zilina is the 11,258 capacity Stadion pod Dubnom which has an artificial grass surface, and their home colours are yellow shirts with green shorts.

 

In a testament to Zilina’s youth policy, all of the side that played at Slovan had come through their B team, except perhaps for 18 year old Ghanaian midfielder Samuel Gidi, who also may have made some youth or reserve appearances for the club.

Zilina’s average attendance for three home matches so far was 1,930, compared to Zemplin’s 1,309 and the league’s average of 2,291.

Michalove is in the east of Slovakia, and so represented a 300km journey to Zilina, or three and a half hours by road. It is approximately 30km from the Ukraine border. It has a population of around 36,000. Since the relegation of Tatran Presov in 2017/18, they have been the only team representing the eastern region of Slovakia in the Fortuna Liga.

The town’s football club have been in the top division of Slovak football since 2015/16, with a best finish of 5^th in 2018/19. Last season they ended in 9^th position. The name Zemplin comes from the region of Slovakia they are located in.

Zemplin began the season with a 2-0 home victory over Dukla Banska Bystrica and followed that with a 0-0 draw at FK Tatran Liptovsky Mikulas. Three consecutive losses were then suffered ( Slovan Bratislava A 2-4, Trencin A 1-3, and Spartak Trnava H 0-4 ). However, the rot was ended last time out with a 3-1 home win over MFK Skalica.

Goalkeeper Andriy Kozhukhar comes from Ukraine and has played for Chornomorets Odessa and Latvian side Valmiera, centre-back Michal Jerabek is Czech and has played for Teplice, Jablonec and Kazakh side Aktobe, whilst youngsters Brian Pena and Alex Mendes are both from Spain. Swiss forward Adler da Silva is on loan from Slovan Bratislava having started his career at Servette in Geneva and is their top scorer with 3 goals so far.

Midfielder and captain Igor Zofcak has 14 caps for Slovakia, and had spells with Sparta Prague and Jablonec, and ex-Slovan Bratislava right-back Juraj Kotula has 1 cap for Slovakia and has also played for Brno in the Czech Republic. Winger Lukas Janosik has had three spells at Zilina !

As Zemplin normally play in yellow shirts with blue shorts, today they were in a change kit of all white.

Zemplin were unchanged following their victory over Skalica, whilst Zilina made just the one change from their starting line-up at Slovan with Roland Galcik replacing Timotej Jambor up front.

Zilina were 5/6 favourites, with the draw at 11/4 and Zemplin at 10/3. Temperature at the 16.00 local time kick-off was around 32 degrees.

Tickets for the game ranged from 5 EUR to 10 EUR for the VIP seats if bought online upto two hours before kick-off, or from 7 EUR to 15 EUR on the gate. Given the low crowd expected for today’s game only one and half parts for the ground were open, and with the cameras in the main stand it didn’t give a good look with all the empty spaces in view !

The players’ names on the Zemplin shirts were all in lower case letters, but were in capitals on the Zilina shirts.

The match started slowly, with Zilina playing possession football and Zemplin content to sit back and defend. The home side forced the first corner when Kapralik’s cross was deflected off, and the second corner arrived in the 9^th minute which led to the opening goal. Galcik’s low left footed corner was anticipated by Patrik Myslovic, who advanced towards the near post to sweep home left-footed across the face of the goal and in off the far post. It was Myslovic’s third goal of the season.

Zemplin nearly struck back immediately but after Janosik’s incisive pass gave Adler a sight of goal, a sliding block from Nemcik denied the Swiss striker at the expensive of a corner.

Inspired by his goal, Myslovic caught the eye as Zilina’s midfield play-maker, having a long-range shot punched away by the Zemplin keeper, and then producing a delicate chip over the visitors back-line for the marauding Rusnak to collect, cut-back inside, but have his shot pushed wide for a corner.

Due to the heat a water-break was taken after 22 minutes and after a quiet spell, Zilina’s Kopas sent a powerful free-kick inches over the bar. In the 31^st minute Rusnak again got behind the Zemplin defence to latch onto a long ball out of defence by Nemcik, and again cut-back to shoot left footed and force Kozhukhar into making a save. However, this time the linesman’s flag was raised for off-side.

Zemplin were forced into making a change in the 31^st minute as captain Zofcak limped off to be replaced by Gambian Sainey Njie, who is on loan from DAC Dunajska Streda, for his first appearance for Michalovce.

The first yellow card of the match was dished out in the 37^th minute after Jerabek’s cynical trip prevented Galcik getting away down the left wing. The sun-drenched crowd then burst into applause after a great tackle on Mendez as Zemplin probed down the left-hand side. However, Michalovce were finally starting to get into the game, and the over-lapping Kotula delivered a great ball into the danger zone, but Adler, under pressure from Nemcik at the near post, was unable to make a connection and the ball slid harmlessly wide for a goal-kick.

Another neat move from the visitors involving Kotula and Marcin ended with Janosik blasting over the bar. Three minutes from the interval, Kotula sent another fine low cross into the 6 yard area, and the stretching Adler managed to divert goalwards only for Belko to push away. In the ensuing scramble Ranko saw two attempts blocked by brave defending.

Janosik then flashed another shot a couple of feet wide of the post. In-between this pressure from Zemplin, Rusnak again shot for goal after Galcik’s effort was saved, but his blushes were spared by the raised linesman’s flag after putting the ball wide.

Zilina deserved their 1-0 half-time lead, and had 61% of the possession. However, Michalovce would have taken heart from their good spell just before the break.

Not a great deal happened in the opening 15 minutes of the second half, apart from a yellow card to Gidi after a dangerous tackle on the increasingly influential Njie and Marcin shot narrowly wide after goal work by Njie on the right.

Michalovce keeper Kozhukhar was shown a yellow card in the 59^th minute. Duris managed to get on the end of a long ball out defence ahead of Kotula but put his effort well wide. However, a few seconds latter he was clattered into by the Ukrainian keeper, with a free-kick being awarded just outside the penalty area. The attempt from Kopas went several feet harmlessly wide.

Zilina should have doubled their lead in the 64^th minute, when after a great cross from Rusnak, substitute Jambor headed wide from 10 yards when he should have at least hit the target. Less than a minute later, Njie’s long range snap-shot drifted narrowly wide.

Zemplin thought they had equalised in the 69^th minute when Petrik’s corner was met at the near post by Jerabek but his bullet header was marvellously saved by the diving Belko at his near post. Showing that football can be a game of fine margins within less than a minute disaster struck for the away side and they went from potentially going level, to going two behind.

There didn’t seem to be any danger as Njie passed back to his keeper, but inexplicably Kozhukar passed weakly straight to Myslovic, and the Zilina midfielder immediately put the ball into the open goal !

The visitors must have realised it wasn’t going to be their day when with 10 minutes remaining a flowing move involving Njie and Marcin saw Petrik cross into the 6 yard box only for Jerabek to shoot into the ground, enabling Belko to tip the ball over the bar.

Finally, in added on time, Njie and Adler combined for Petrik to deliver another cross into the area where the ball struck the hand of a player. Unfortunately for Michalovce, it was the hand of Kanu rather than a defender, and the referee correctly awarded a free-kick to Zilina.

In the end Zilina registered a fairly routine victory which temporarily put them up into second place in the league before the rest of the weekend’s game take place. In Myslovic and Rusnak they appeared to have at least two players who might interest clubs outside of Slovakia.

For Michalovce, the debut of Njie will have given them some encouragement, with a dominant display in central midfield that should see him starting their next match. Up front Adler looks like he is capable of scoring a few goals, but they didn’t get the ball to him often enough today.

MSK Zilina : Belko – Rusnak, Leitner, Nemcik, Bari – Myslovic ( Stojchevski ), Kopas, Gidi ( Ilko ) – Kapralik ( Jambor ), Duris, Galcik ( Jibril )

MFK Zemplin Michalovce : Kozhukhar – Kotula, Jerabek, Ranko, Mendez – Pena ( Zahradnik ), Begala ( Kanu ), Zofcak ( Njie ) – Marcin, Adler, Janosik ( Petrik )

Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s16tvNYgOBs