The Parisians won the capital’s derby in the hands of Paris FC this Sunday, in the semi-finals.
The Paris SG Female joined Olympique Lyonnais in the first league final by eliminating Paris FC (3-0), including Captain Gaëtane Thiney, now retired, played her last match. It is a revenge, a week after the PFC victory in the French Cup final against this same PSG (0-0, 5-4 at TAB). PSG players managed to get up a hectic week, a consequence of this setback before the eyes of the President of PSG, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi and the coach of the French team Laurent Bonadei.
In one week, their coach, Fabrice Abriel – criticized for his results, his management and his tense relations with the executives Grace Geyoro and Sakina Karchaoui – was put forward on Monday and temporarily replaced by Paulo Cesar, who had been coaching U19s so far. On the same day, an altercation took place between the sports director Angelo Castellazzi and the star attacker Marie-Antoinette Katoto. The center forward, at the end of the contract and on the departure of the club in which she has been playing since her 12 years, stayed on the bench and under her hood throughout the match. The one that heated before the match will therefore still have the opportunity to play its last minutes in the Paris jersey during the championship final next Friday in Lyon, at Groupama Stadium.
Gaëtane Thiney’s tears, who bows out
For his second match in less than five days on the bench, Paulo César favored a three-time defense with a Karchaoui-Geyor-Groenen environment, who also combined the defensive errors of the players of Sandrine Soubeyrand. Like a symbol, Sakina Karchaoui released her teammates by doubling the shot on a well crossed strike, which deceived the PFC door, not well placed (2-0, 55th). The French international, not summoned several matches by former coach Fabrice Abriel, celebrated his goal in the arms of his replacement.
At the start of the match, the PSG attacker Romée Leuchter had opened the scoring by taking advantage of a big disagreement between the goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie and the Deja Davis defender, in difficulty the whole meeting (1-0, 2nd). The teammates of Clara Mateo, the best manager in the championship who tried without being decisive (21st, 27th), never recovered from this catastrophic start. The PSG Korbin Albert’s offensive midfielder increased the scoring at the very end of the match (3-0, 90+1).
This semi-final is therefore the last Gaëtane Thiney match, 39, after 25 years of career (493 games played), including twelve as international between 2007 and 2019 (163 selections, 58 goals). The one who was still one of the players in the PFC most prominent on Sunday evening won her first trophy last week, after victory in the French Cup. At the final whistle, the whole team tightened around the captain, moved to tears.
