Before the match against Lyon, Jennifer Hermoso appears as one of the key players in the Paris squad for the start of the season. Decisive against Paris FC and Montpellier, will the Spanish striker be able to shine again against Lyon? His performance will, in any case, to follow closely Monday at Parc OL.


She is now one of D1's best forwarders, having been the best scorer in the Spanish league in the last two seasons. Jennifer Hermoso evolves in a different register from the one in which she plays with the Spanish Roja, or during her stint at FC Barcelona.

We find her in the middle of the field, behind the Parisian attack trio, Kadidiatou Diani, Marie-Laure Delie and Marie-Antoinette Katoto. A positioning that gives him an important role in the construction of the game in the middle of the field, added to his striking quality on the set pieces. Facing Montpellier, it is she who hits the free-kicks that lead to the first two goals of the victory in Paris. Against Paris FC, it's a goal of the inevitable Katoto on a corner Jennifer Hermoso.


"I never had in mind to put it in front"


It is for these qualities that Patrice Lair wanted to bring her to Paris, with her "left paw", this ability "to give good balloons" in the game and on "stopped balls", but also "to hold the ball ". An element that could have its importance against Lyon, both manage to counter the OL but also be able to retain the ball in certain situations. Longer possession phases that can also help to "raise the team block" and not suffer too much the game Lyon.

Qualities that the Parisian coach sees as complementary to those of Shirley Cruz, but also Formiga, positioned in front of the defense and which can regulate the "tempo" of the Paris game when PSG has the ball, just like what the players of the capital could do in sequence against Montpellier.

When asked about Patrice Lair Jennifer Hermoso, the Paris coach does not imagine the Spanish international in advanced attack position as it has been able to evolve at Barca, despite the 59 goals she scored in two seasons (60 matches) in Liga. A conviction he had forged before the arrival of Jennifer Hermoso at PSG. She also regularly recalled in the Spanish press that she did not see herself as a scorer, but rather as a player who seeks to give goal balls to her teammates.


The goal or the pass


With La Roja, despite being a center forward, she is also a player capable of serving her teammates. He has been seen recently against Austria, where she delivered a decisive pass for Irene Paredes on free-kick, and another for his former teammate at Barça, Alexia Putellas.

Since the beginning of the season, she has not scored with Paris, even if it regularly comes to bring the surplus in the opposing surfaces. It could have opened its counter last weekend against Bordeaux, with several opportunities that have not found the net.

This importance taken in the game by Jennifer Hermoso could have seemed a temporary situation with the absence of Shirley Cruz and Vero Boquete in the middle. Returns that could today change the contribution of Jennifer Hermoso, with this role in the game, relying on its outstanding technical skills but also find this sense of purpose that had helped to make its reputation in Spain.



photo: Team Pics / PSG