Paris Saint-Germain faced this Sunday, on behalf of the third day, Montpellier during the first big test for the Parisian at this edition 2015/2016. At the Georges Lefèvre stadium in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the public was present despite the gloomy weather, alternating clearings and rain.

The first half begins with a Parisian domination, which is however sterile. The players of Farid Benstiti saw their game disturbed by the physical impact of Montpellier, came to Paris to not leave empty-handed.

It is also the MHSC that will have the best opportunity in the 14th minute, when the Swedish striker Sofia Jakobsson wins a deep duel against Laura Georges and is faced with Katarzyna Kiedrzynek. Unfortunately for Montpellier, after a missed dive of the Parisian goalkeeper, Sofia Jakobsson sees his shot hit the post.

PSG will react by Cristiane in the 37th minute. In midfield, Anja Mittag recovers the ball, gives it to Lisa Dahlkvist, who transmits it deeply to Cristiane. The Brazilian striker strikes her left foot but sees her shot deflected by the goalkeeper in a corner.

Before half-time, Sofia Jakobsson will still have an opportunity with a left foot shot deflected by the Parisian goalkeeper.

So we stay on a draw after the first 45 minutes.

In the second half, the pace drops in intensity but the status quo is still in place, sterile domination of the PSG.

And as in the first act, Sofia Jakobsson creates the best opportunity. In the 61st minute, the Swedish striker strikes the right foot at the entrance to the surface, sees her shot deflected by a Parisian player, but the Parisian goalkeeper sacrifices himself, deflecting the ball for a corner, but hitting the post with his back ! Katarzyna Kiedrzynek will recover to finish the match.

Then little or nothing. The Parisian dominate, approach the surface of Montpellier but do not care very little guard, Laetitia Philippe.

The match ends with a 0-0 which is very expensive at Paris Saint-Germain, who had not lost points in the league against another team than Lyon for over a year! In the standings, Paris and Montpellier are already two points behind the already isolated leader, Lyon. We will return to the D1 championship in two weeks, with the long awaited Lyon-PSG, while Montpellier will receive Saint-Étienne with the hope of taking advantage of a failure of Lyonnaises or Parisiennes to settle a little more comfortably to second place.

Post-match reactions:

Farid Benstiti (PSG coach): "Even if we wanted to, we were not there at all. You have to be humble. Montpellier is a good team. You have to play the first half as the second, in aggression, in the will to move forward and the desire to win a match that is extremely difficult, so I think that's what we've lack. We must also not underestimate the championship of France where today teams come to Paris to look for a result. They are well organized, they are able to do it so we must find solutions to unlock the situation immediately. The problem is that to wait 45 minutes to engage completely, today it will not be enough. What is annoying is that we really felt that each time we accelerate the game, we put in trouble anybody, so we must repeat it. I felt my players a little tense on the first half where each one counted on the other to, certainly, to make the difference, whereas since the beginning of season it is not the case. It was necessary to reboost a little everyone at half-time, even taking counter-attacks from Montpellier by Sofia Jakobsson who is going very fast. My players tried to do it, it almost happened, but it's not enough, it takes 90 minutes like that. Let's be objective, we did not do a good match. "

Andressa Alves (Montpellier striker): "We come out of this match with a mixed feeling because we could have won. We had a lot of opportunities but the guardian opponent played very well. I think our opponent had two scoring opportunities. For us it's basically not bad because we drew away, and when we play at home we will win. PSG impresses yes, we knew that it was going to be a difficult match because the quality of the team is undeniable, but we returned to the field with the goal of winning or draw. Losing would not bring us anything. We held the draw, and we took points in Paris who plays the title, which was important for our club. Our tactic was to close the pass lines in the middle of the field, that's why we only played with one forward attacker, and try to counterattack, because we know the quality of the Parisian midfield with their captain (Editor's note: Seger). They have a fast passing game so the coach wanted to close the lines, so we try to take the ball in the middle to try to start in a counterattack. I think it worked. Today I played a little lower for the team. My role was to score the players in midfield and when I managed to recover the ball, try to create opportunities. I created some opportunities but we did not succeed in making it happen. We are still happy with this draw.

Photo credit: Giovani Pablo