It never looked like an easy encounter. Paris Saint-Germain headed to the Stade de l’Abbé-Deschamps, looking to do what only AS Monaco have succeeded in doing this season and beating AJ Auxerre.
Thanks to the 0-0 draw against PSG, Auxerre are now five games unbeaten at home and have the second-best home record in Ligue 1. In that time, they have beaten the likes of OGC Nice, Stade Rennais, and Stade Brestois at the Stade de l’Abbé-Deschamps.
Auxerre had to dig deep to secure a point against Ligue 1 leaders PSG, and they were reliant on a man-of-the-match performance from Donovan Léon (32), who made 11 saves on the night, including two big ones late in extra-time. His performance garnered a rare ’10’ rating from L’Équipe.
Despite dropping points in successive games in Ligue 1, Luis Enrique wasn’t overly critical of his players. “It is a positive analysis. The result doesn’t reflect the match. In the second half, we increased our rhythm, we pushed, we had more chances. I have nothing to criticise from my players. They had a good match,” said the PSG manager post-match.
Les Parisiens’ lack of efficiency in front of goal was once again an issue, but as Luis Enrique states, there are no easy solutions to remedy the problem. “We are creating lots of situations. We have to be more precise and finish better, and this is the objective for all of us. There is no magic formula: we have to have more chances and be capable of scoring,” said the PSG manager.