PARIS: Fabian Ruiz scored the only goal of the game while Ousmane Dembele missed a penalty as a rusty Paris Saint-Germain beat Angers 1-0 on Friday to make it two wins out of two at the start of the Ligue 1 season.
Spain midfielder Ruiz drilled home from inside the box five minutes into the second half at the Parc des Princes, handing European champions PSG the win in a game in which they dominated but lacked sharpness.
Luis Enrique’s side, who showed off their trophy haul from last season at the end of this game, edged Nantes 1-0 away last weekend to begin the defence of their 11th French title in the last 13 years.
That was off the back of a penalty shoot-out victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the UEFA Super Cup as PSG returned to action following just one week of pre-season training and without having played any warm-up friendly matches.
The Super Cup was PSG’s fifth trophy of 2025 to go with their triumphs in the Champions League, Ligue 1, French Cup and the French Champions Trophy.
They displayed their collection of silverware on the pitch at full-time in front of a Parc des Princes packed despite August being a time Parisians escape the city on holiday.
“We need to quickly forget about these five trophies because that is the past and we need to think about the future,” Luis Enrique said. “I thought we were really good physically and technically,” he said of his team’s performance in a game played on a poor surface.
“It is difficult against a team that defends deep and it was even harder because of the state of the pitch.”
The PSG coach made seven changes to his starting line-up, but this was arguably just about PSG’s strongest possible team with Lucas Chevalier making a home debut in goal following his recent arrival from Lille.
ACCLAIM FOR DONNARUMMA
Chevalier has taken over as number one from Gianluigi Donnarumma, with the Italian — a hero of last season’s Champions League campaign — now expected to leave the club but still appearing on the pitch after the game to take the acclaim of the crowd.
“It is always lovely to see the support of the fans. I understand that it was a special moment for ‘Gigio’,” Luis Enrique said of Donnarumma’s reception.
The Parisians had chances but their finishing was wayward against opponents who beat newly-promoted Paris FC 1-0 on the opening weekend of the season.
PSG won a penalty in the 25th minute when Joao Neves was tripped just inside the area by Marius Courcoul. Dembele, who scored 35 goals in all competitions last season, blazed the kick high over the bar.
Desire Doue, playing against his hometown team, then saw a magnificent strike narrowly miss the top corner.
The only goal arrived five minutes after the restart as a low ball into the middle by Doue was blocked but broke for Ruiz to score. Angers never looked like finding an equaliser.
Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2025
