PLAYER RATINGS | PSG 3-1 Toulouse: League leaders go four points clear | OneFootball

Ousmane Dembélé scored twice as Paris Saint-Germain went four points clear at the top of Ligue 1 with a hard-fought win over Toulouse, five days before their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Liverpool.

The match

For PSG’s first league match in two weeks (and their last for another two), Luis Enrique would have likely preferred to send out second-string lineup frontline of the midweek reception of Liverpool. A mini-injury crisis, sidelining Senny Mayulu and Bradley Barcola among others, meant that Toulouse were instead set to face the full force of the league leaders’ first-choice attack.

The Asturian sent out an otherwise revamped eleven which notably saw Lucas Beraldo step into midfield. Les Violets, who had crept back into contention for Europe with two consecutive wins before the break, were without Charlie Cresswell due to a hamstring injury and striker Santiago Hidalgo due to suspension.

Facing the in-form attacking trio, Carlos Martínez Novell set up his side accordingly as PSG’s chances were kept to a minimum in the opening exchanges. Initially, only a couple of efforts from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia had called Guillaume Restes into action.

PSG eventually found a way through midway through the first half as the southerners could only clear a cross as far as Ousmane Dembélé on the edge of the box. With the ball set to drop at his feet, the Frenchman struck a volley into the top corner to score his ninth goal of the league campaign.

Toulouse responded minutes later, though, as two errors in quick succession from Safonov led to Nicolaisen’s header looping into the net. The Russian had misjudged a ball over the top from Toulouse, which led Pacho to concede the corner which led to the equaliser.

The hosts regained the lead soon after, though, as Kvaratskhelia nodded a corner on across goal for Dembélé to prod into an empty net. The forward almost completed his hat-trick shortly after half-time, although this time his close-range finish was ruled out for offside.

Chances for either team were few and far between in the remainder of the second half, as the visitors were limited to taking long-range shots and any urgency in PSG’s play subsided. While grabbing a draw was ostensibly within Toulouse’s reach, the visitors were unable to create anything of note in the final third due to misplaced passes and rigid patterns of play.

PSG brought on some of their usual starters in the final fifteen minutes of the match, with João Neves making a return from an ankle injury. Gonçalo Ramos also made his customary late-match cameo, and added a third in stoppage-time with a well-placed sweeping shot into the far corner.

PSG player ratings

Matvey Safonov, 4

Achraf Hakimi, 6

Ilya Zabarnyi, 5

Willian Pacho, 6

Lucas Hernandez, 5

Lucas Beraldo, 6

Lee Kang-in, 5

Warren Zaïre-Emery, 5

Désiré Doué, 5

Ousmane Dembélé, 8

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, 7

Selected Toulouse player ratings

Guillaume Restes, 5

Djibril Sidibé, 5

Cristian Cásseres, 6

GFFN | R Jucobin – reporting from the Parc des Princes