Paris Saint-Germain defeated Chelsea 5-2 this Wednesday at the Parc des Princes in the first leg of their 2025-2026 Champions League Round of 16 tie (second leg on March 17). Following the victory, journalist Daniel Riolo spoke to RMC Sport. He highlighted what allowed Paris to make the difference despite the difficulties they faced.
Riolo: “We were very perplexed, even the stadium.”
“I’m talking about courage or mental strength. I wouldn’t say that, from a physical point of view, Paris didn’t suffer at the end of the match. But despite the suffering, they capitalized on a huge error by the goalkeeper, who gifted the Parisians a goal when they were struggling.
This mental strength that drives the Parisians to always press high, as Barcola did, was rewarded and brilliantly exploited by a moment of pure class from Vitinha, at a point in the match when the Parisians were struggling and when we thought the 2-2 scoreline would be settled. We were very perplexed, even the stadium.
Riolo: “It’s courage combined with individual talent.”
At 2-2, we thought Chelsea would be content with that, that Paris wouldn’t have the strength to go any further. But a team is a bench, it’s substitutions. When you have a guy like Kvaratskhelia on the bench, who came on fired up after a goal-saving save, you see the difference.” Stratospheric because he has the talent to do it… It’s courage combined with individual talent.
There’s Dembélé’s incredible move with the feint/double feint/finish on the counter-attack, Vitinha’s finish, Kvara’s extraordinary curling shot. We mustn’t forget that PSG has top-class players like Dembélé, Kvara, and Vitinha, who we’ve all seen better than tonight, but he scored at the right time.”
It’s quite rare for Riolo to be positive about PSG, so we should take advantage of it. It’s a moment of calm around the club after a victory, even if the Parisians were less dominant than in other matches where the result wasn’t positive.
Of course, the quality of the opponent poses problems, and finding answers is interesting. Especially on the “physical” side, where we could have expected Paris to struggle at times. It feels like Riolo missed part of the point regarding PSG’s second-half response, referring to a truly difficult period followed by game-changing substitutions.
It’s an advantage. After a high-tempo start, PSG dropped off a bit. They haven’t yet had 90 minutes of such intense play in their legs. They haven’t given up, but there are difficulties. In the second half, Paris seemed intent on making Chelsea run and occasionally trying to sting. They missed the mark somewhat, as the Parisians undoubtedly wanted to be more dangerous.
The acceleration during substitutions is probably not a coincidence. Bringing on Kvaratskhelia against a Chelsea side that has done a lot of running is a weapon. As are Lee Kang-In and Senny Mayulu. We like to see the Parisian bench highlighted after numerous “analyses” about a poorly managed transfer window and a PSG that has lost its way. Ultimately, Paris, surprisingly, still has weapons. Including their talent, but also their collective desire and ideas.
