Angel Di Maria excelled in his pre-Madrid litmus test against Troyes as the Argentina continued his fine form of recent which have seen him score 3 goals in 2 matches. The Paris side visited Troyes without the attacking trio of Neymer, Edinson Cavani and Kylain Mbappe but the French side were still able to break down Troyes resistance to grab all 3 points
Unai Emery decided to reshuffle his attacking trio with the loss of Neymer to injury, Mbappe struggling to stay fit and a decision to rest Cavani ahead of mid-week champion’s league clash. The decision almost went either way as the team lacked their ruthlessness in front of goal as evident by Di Maria’s miss early on the game. Di Maria combined with Draxler and Lo Celso with the Argentina looking on course for goal but Zelazny was able to stop the ball from entering the back of the net. The absence of the source of 53 goals for the club was seen as the club reverted to long range attempts. Zelazny was also at the closing stage of the first interval to save
Nkunku’s overhead-kick from entering the net. The Troyes shot-stopper was eventually beaten early in the second interval by Di Maria’s master-class.
The argentine raced unto a Draxler through ball and was able to get a perfect well timed chip over the incoming goalkeeper. Nkunku had the opportunity to end the game as a contest after he was released by Draxler but the attacker’s 8 yard attempt was wide of the target. Nkunku made amend for his earlier miss on the 77th minute as he pounced on a Dani Alves pass to seal the victory. George Weah’s 18-year old son Timothy was handed a debut late but unable to added to the goal tally.
Daniel Alves goal was ruled for an offside but PSG finished the game strongly and are in high spirit ahead of the Champions league reverse game against Real Madrid.
Draxler and Di Maria have continued to be leading the headway recently and are likely to play a big role if the French club are to turn around its fortunes in the continental stage.