a painful loss for Parisians

Possibly the most accurate commentary of the match came early Monday morning at the little newsstand that I buy the daily’s from. Just off the Champs-Élysées, the same gentleman has been working their long before these flecks of grey made there way across my temples and his own animated way he talked of how the city, this beautiful unparalleled city wept. To some that might be a morsel too much on the dramatic side but in other ways the outstanding run by Paris Saint-Germain has been a reawakening of la Ville-Lumière’s love affair with les Rouge et Bleu. Now with colours flying brilliantly again, hope flourishes.

Les Marseillais started the match with a ruthless passionnante performance and took the lead twenty-four minutes in with Boudewijn Zenden’s effort. The goal rustled the Parisians from the stupor and after a few chances scurried off-course, veteran Ludovic Giuly showed why he has never looked brighter then in Paris as he leveled the match with two minutes left in the half. However after the break disaster struck as Zoumana Camara was red-carded from bringing down Boudewijn Zenden as the last man. The disaster wasn’t complete as the resulting free-kick managed to held back by Mickaël Landreau but the rebound took an peculiar bounce and off Bakari Koné before going into the net. Shell-shocked from the unfortunate turn of events only six minutes later, PSG product Lorik Cana found the net from fifteen metres and effectively the match was over. How the match would have played out was a discussion to be had throughout the night but it is all guesswork now as les Marseillas journeyed home with the victory.

Walking by the same newsstand a little later, the gentlemen I noted came up again and the sorrow of last nights match was gone as he turned his attention to this weeks UEFA Cup against SC Braga and then Toulouse later. While the loss may have been painful it will never squash the hopes of les Rouge et Bleu in la Ville-Lumière.