Late Toulouse equaliser leaves dominant PSG frustrated
There is a prestigious ring to the Coupe de France victors hosting the reigning Ligue 1 champions, but that didn’t change the fact that PSG were significant favourites.
A compact Toulouse side did a brilliant job of containing Les Parisiens despite all of the visitors’ possession, though, with Achraf Hakimi smashing the first effort of note in the 20th minute and seeing it saved by the legs of 18-year-old goalkeeper Guillaume Restes.
Luis Enrique’s vision for his PSG side was clear as they moved the ball around patiently, even with the struggle for a clearcut opportunity continuing deep into the half.
The opening wasn’t capitalised when it finally arrived courtesy of Hakimi laying the ball off for Goncalo Ramos, as the forward sent a horrible effort wide, and the Portugal international was left frustrated again when Restes made a brilliant reaction save to deny him before the break.
Warren Zaire-Emery thought he had provided the breakthrough with a thunderbolt after the break, but the goal was ruled out due to Vitinha being offside in the build-up.
Enrique still didn’t wait around, immediately introducing Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele, who increased the tempo straight away.
That paid off as Mbappe was brought down after jinking past Rasmus Nicolaisen in the box to win a penalty before coolly slotting it away for PSG’s first goal of the season, bringing normality after all of the talk about his future.
Having made their own forays forward in search of an equaliser, Toulouse were awarded a penalty of their own in the 85th minute when Hakimi took off Zakaria Aboukhlal’s boot while attempting to chase down the ball.
The Morocco international sent Gianluigi Donnarumma the wrong way to earn a treasured point for Toulouse, who are unbeaten in their two Ligue 1 matches this term despite going behind in both of them.
Meanwhile, PSG still await their first win under Enrique after drawing twice.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Logan Costa (Toulouse)
