Ligue 1

Nianzou Kouassi is PSG's 17-year-old saviour against Amiens

The wonderkid scored two in a thrilling 4-4 draw on Saturday

 
10:00am on Monday 17th February 2020
By
Martin Macdonald
Nianzou Kouassi
D (C) - PSG - 17 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
90'
9.8
Feb 15, 2020

Nianzou Kouassi announced himself on to the European football stage this weekend as he put in a performance beyond his years to save PSG from defeat against Amiens, with the game eventually finishing 4-4.

However, the caveat to this is that he massively contributed to them going three goals down in the first place, as he gave the ball away needlessly for the first and then was caught out of position for the second and the third.

As he is so very young, he can be commended for his response, as while some other PSG superstars were quiet during the fightback, he helped claw them back into contention with two towering headers from corners.

In terms of passing he completed the third-most of anyone in the league this week with 100, and also won the majority of his duels, but just needed to be a little more aware of his surroundings in this particular game. That attribute will come with experience.

Mounir Chouiar
AM (LC) - Dijon - 21 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
90'
9.4
Feb 15, 2020

Bordeaux and Dijon played out an entertaining 2-2 draw on Saturday, with the latter earning another point in their battle against relegation.

They have Mounir Chouiar to thank, mostly, for that point, as he was sensational on the left flank.

He scored two on the night, with the opening goal coming 16 minutes in after he opened up his stride to burst beyond a disjointed Bordeaux defence before gorgeously passing a finish round the goalkeeper into the corner in Thierry Henry-esque fashion.

The hosts fought back to make it 2-1, but Chouiar was on hand to score again, this time with an even better goal, again in the style of Henry with a curled strike into the far corner from the edge of the box. A double of the highest quality.

Gaël Kakuta
AM (CR) - Amiens - 28 yrs
90'
9.3
Feb 15, 2020

With regards to Gael Kakuta, there has always been a player in there even if he rarely shows it.

Against PSG, he showed it, with a goal and two assists to his name.

His goal was the one to make it 2-0 Amiens and was arguably the goal of the weekend, as he collected the ball to feet around the edge of the box on the left channel before rifling an absolutely stunning effort across goal into the top right corner.

Before and after that, he was a provider for the first and third goals with a pair of neat passes in behind the PSG defence for Serhou Guirassy and Fousseni Diabate respectively.

Walter Benítez
GK - Nice - 26 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
90'
8.8
Feb 15, 2020

Nice beat Toulouse 2-0 but that scoreline suggests it was more comfortable than it was, as they had to rely on some heroics between the sticks from goalkeeper Walter Benitez.

Over the course of the game, he made five saves in total to shut out the home side, as well as five ball recoveries.

Nice went into injury time a goal up, only for Toulouse to get a late penalty. However, Benitez stood tall to save the spotkick from Aaron Leya Iseka with authority down to his left-hand side, which subsequently gave the visitors the platform to grab a second and finish the game off few minutes later.

Alexandre Oukidja
GK - FC Metz - 31 yrs
MAN OF THE MATCH
90'
8.8
Feb 15, 2020

Staying with the goalkeeper's union, now, as Metz stopper Alexandre Oukidja was formidable for his team in the 0-0 draw away at Nantes.

Unlike Benitez, Oukidja didn't save a penalty to boost his rating, but did save no less than seven shots from the home side, who sent 18 on goal in total.

Naturally, that was more saves than any other goalkeeper in the league.

He helped take the pressure off his defenders with nine ball recoveries, also.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Sehrou Guirassy (8.5) was part of the goalscoring in Amiens' 4-4 draw with PSG, as he scored the opener for his side as well as the vital equaliser after the visitors had turned the scoreline around to 4-3. The first finish was sent under the oncoming keeper, while the second was taken with composure from inside the box.

ROUND TO FORGET

Stephane Ruffier (4.8) failed to make a single save and conceded three goals, one of which was directly his fault in Saint Etienne's 3-2 loss versus Brest.

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