Trophée des Champions
Report: Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 Olympique Marseille
Date: 13 January 2021
Venue: Stade Bollaert-Delelis
Mauricio Pochettino claimed his first trophy as Paris Saint-Germain manager after his side defeated Olympique Marseille 2-1 to win the Trophée des Champions.
PSG made four changes from the thumping win over Brest, as Alesandro Florenzi, Layvin Kurzawa, Leandro Paredes and Mauro Icardi were all recalled while Neymar recovered from his injury to start on the bench.
The sides were struggling to settle in wet conditions in the early stages but Icardi combined with Mbappe half-way through the first stanza to find the back of the net but his goal was ruled out for offside.
Mbappe thought he had finally got the breakthrough on the half-hour mark with a header inside the box but the goal was also chalked off due to offside, that was double-checked by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
Icardi eventually broke the deadlock for Mauricio Pochettino's charges six minutes before the break with a close-range strike from a rebound after shot-stopper Steve Mandanda spilled his initial header and the Argentine was denied the second goal in first-half stoppages by the crossbar after a lofted strike.
The early exchanges of the second stanza did not produce too much goal-mouth action and Pochettino finally brought on Neymar in the 65th minute in place of Angel Di Maria.
Andre Villas-Boas' troops were weathering the storm in the last 20 minutes and attacking on counter-attacks but they lacked the finishing touches in the final third.
Marseille shot themselves in the foot after second-half goalkeeper Yohann Pele conceded a penalty in the last eight minutes after bringing down Icardi inside the box. Neymar sealed the deal as he made it 2-0 for PSG from the spot, with a strike into the bottom corner on his return to action.
Dimitri Payet pulled a goal back for Marseille in the last minute with a close-range finish from Florian Thauvin's square pass but it was too little too late, as the Parisians held on and were crowned champions with a 2-1 win.
