Result: Saint-Etienne 1-1 Paris Saint-Germain
Date: 06 January 2021
Venue: Stade Geoffroy-Guichard
Mauricio Pochettino began his Paris Saint-Germain reign with a 1-1 draw against Saint-Etienne in Ligue 1 on Wednesday night.
Pochettino made two changes from the side that thrashed Strasbourg, as Idrissa Gueye and Moise Kean were recalled while Neymar was still missing through injury.
Harold Moukoudi came close to giving Saint-Etienne the lead in the ninth minute with a powerful header at the near post that was saved by shot-stopper Keylor Navas.
At the other end three minutes later, goalkeeper Jessy Moulin pulled off a stunning one-handed save to keep out Marquinhos' header from a corner.
Romain Hamouma eventually broke the deadlock for Claude Puel's charges against the run of play with a composed finish inside the box after a square pass by Denis Bouanga.
PSG responded three minutes later after Kean fired home a strike inside the box to finish off a counter-attacking move, with Marco Verratti releasing the final pass.
Saint-Etienne came close to going to the break with a lead after Mathieu Debuchy unleashed a powerful volley on the edge of the box towards that forced Navas into an outstanding save to keep the score level heading to the break.
Puel's men caused PSG all sorts of problems after from the break and Bouanga came close to restoring the lead for the hosts in the 65th minute after through at the near post but his shot was saved by Navas.
Bouanga was unlucky not put Saint-Etienne ahead five minutes later with a header at the near post from a corner that came off the crossbar.
Pablo Sarabia missed a big chance in stoppage time for the visitors, after blasting his effort over the crossbar from close range as the sides shared the spoils in the end.
