Ligue 1

Ligue 1 Top Five, Round 22: Neymar captains PSG showboat

The Brazilian was reprimanded by the referee for showing off his skills in the win over Montpellier

 
9:30am on Monday 3rd February 2020
By
Martin Macdonald
Neymar Jr.
AM (CL) - PSG - 27 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
90'
9.4
Feb 1, 2020

Neymar was in magical form in PSG's comprehensive 5-0 win over Montpellier, as even though he only played a direct part in one goal with an assist for Kylian Mbappe, his creativity was immense dropping deep.

He sent a remarkable 57 passes into the final third which, to put into context, was 18 more than anyone in the league this weekend, while he also had more touches than anyone in Ligue 1 with 128.

The Brazilian completed 10 dribbles (again, the most in the league) and began to enjoy himself as the scoreline grew. Indeed, after an attempted rainbow flick, he was given a telling off by the referee for supposedly being disrespectful.

Zinedine Ferhat
AM, M (R) - Nimes - 26 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
90'
9.3
Feb 1, 2020

Zinedine Ferhat caused all sorts of problems for Monaco in Nimes' 3-1 victory, assisting the opening goal after some superb work down the right wing.

It was down that flank where he excelled, providing width and plenty of ammunition for his team-mates, too, as he sent 10 crosses in total into the box as well as 36 passes into the final third.

He completed eight dribbles, but certainly worked hard, too, as he won 10/15 of his ground duels.

Opa Nguette
W (L) - FC Metz - 25 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
72'
9.3
Feb 2, 2020

Metz made it three wins on the bounce after defeating Saint-Etienne 3-1, with Opa Nguette scoring two of the three.

For the first, he latched on to a knockdown header from Habib Diallo to run through and send a magnificent, precise finish into the bottom left corner from the edge of the box before the defender could intervene.

His second was a lot simpler as he positioned himself perfectly inside the box to convert a finish into the roof of the net after the reverse cross from the left.

He also won the majority of his duels and made four ball recoveries.

Kasper Dolberg
S (C) - Nice - 22 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
87'
8.7
Feb 2, 2020

Nice extended their unbeaten run to six Ligue 1 matches after impressively dispatching of Lyon with a 2-1 home victory.

The difference between the teams proved to be Kasper Dolberg, who scored both goals for the hosts. Both showed off his prowess in the penalty box, as for the first he converted from close range before then pouncing on a poor save from the keeper to pass into the empty net.

He completed just 12 passes the entire game, but his job was to score goals, and he did it, twice, to emerge as the match winner.

Raphinha
AM, M (R) - Stade Rennais - 23 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
90'
8.5
Jan 31, 2020

In one of the games of the weekend, Rennes scored two goals in two minutes deep into injury time to defeat Nantes 3-2 after being 2-1 down.

Key to the comeback was Raphinha who scored the initial equalising goal before the winner 97 minutes in. Both goals were fairly similar in that he took advantage of two spills from the goalkeeper (one from a penalty) to convert the rebound with ease. He had to wait for VAR to intervene to actually allow the winner, but the eventual decision came.

He sent five crosses into the box and 12 passes into the final third, too.

HONOURABLE MENTION

Dijon increased the gap between themselves and the relegation zone to five points after beating Brest 3-0. The biggest contributing factor to the win was the performance fo Mama Balde (8.5), who scored two goals.

ROUND TO FORGET

Tiemoue Bakayoko (4.8) played 31 minutes for Monaco, completed just three passes, didn't win a single tackle, and was then sent off.

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