From Di Maria to Gameiro, the winners and losers as PSG beat Atletico Madrid

Paris Saint-Germain beat Atletico Madrid 3-2 in an exciting International Champions Cup friendly match.

After a tight first half in which PSG slightly had the upper-hand, Christopher Nkunku opened the scoring after half an hour, capitalising on a rare defensive lapse from Atletico.

Moussa Diaby doubled PSG’s win with 20 minutes remaining after a good move including Timothy Weah before Victor Mollejo pulled a goal back for Atletico minutes later.

And through an own goal from Antoine Bernede, Atletico drew level late on which looked to have earned a penalty shootout but for Virgiliu Postolachi’s winner.

Here are the winners and losers from the friendly in Singapore.

Winner: Angel Di Maria

With Edinson Cavani still missing due to his run to the World Cup quarter-finals with Uruguay – one game more than Argentina – Angel Di Maria was given the opportunity to test himself in a more central role.

Last season, the former Manchester United man found himself with fewer first-team opportunities following the signings of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, who both started either side of Cavani under Unai Emery.

An injury to Neymar allowed him some success but for the upcoming season Di Maria may need to find himself another way into the team.

And against Atletico Madrid, the Argentine showed he could be an option as backup for Cavani.

Despite not scoring, Di Maria tested a usually stern Atletico defence and linked up well with Nkunku to give his side the upperhand in the first half.

Loser: Kevin Gameiro

Just like Di Maria, Kevin Gameiro was given the chance to prove himself for Atletico Madrid in the absence of Diego Costa and Antoine Griezmann with the latter still at least a week away from returning after France’s World Cup glory.

But Gameiro, who missed out on that glory having failed to make Didier Deschamps 23-man squad, failed to make much of a case for himself with a poor showing against PSG.

The forward had the better of Atletico’s goalscoring chances in the first half but failed to test Kevin Trapp in the PSG goal, most notably blazing over with just the goalkeeper to beat after the defence was opened with a good pace.

Winner: Christopher Nkunku

Off the back of his goal against Arsenal, Nkunku started the match against Atletico Madrid and wasted little time in showing Thomas Tuchel what he could be capable of.

Showing a good understanding alongside Di Maria in a 3-5-2, the 20-year-old was a threat to the Atletico defence and opened the scoring by putting himself in the right position to score off a rebound.

So far Nkunku has made 49 appearances for PSG in all competitions scoring seven goals. But the Frence U21 international could yet find himself more involved next season if his performances continue to impress.

Loser: Alec Georgen

At half-time during the game in Singapore, PSG made 10 changes to their starting XI with one of those seeing 19-year-old Alec Georgen coming on.

The right-back would have hoped to be able to make the most of the appearance ahead of the upcoming season, having spent the last campaign on loan at AZ Alkmaar’s youth side.

But his night lasted just two minutes as he picked up what looked to be a nasty injury off the ball and had to be taken off without having the chance to show his capabilities to new manager Tuchel.

Loic Mbe Soh was another player to go off injured but managed 15 minutes to Georgen’s two.

Winner: Thomas Tuchel

Following the 5-1 defeat to Arsenal in their previous pre-season friendly, Thomas Tuchel would have wanted his PSG side to step up their game against Atletico despite the lack of competitiveness of the fixture.

And that is exactly what they did against a tough Atletico set-up, overcoming a slow start to take control of the game and score after 30 minutes.

Even when making 10 changes at half-time and a forced one minutes later, PSG were resolute as Atletico came back from 2-0 to level it at 2-2 with minutes remaining, finding the resolve to score an even later winner in almost a complete contrast to the game against Arsenal.

Though neither side were at their strength due to the amount of players they had at the World Cup, Tuchel will no doubt take positivity from the performances of his younger squad members.

Winner: Moussa Diaby

With all the changes coming in the second half for PSG, several young players were given a chance to shine against Atletico.

The one who shone brightest on the pitch was 19-year-old Moussa Diaby who doubled PSG’s lead and put them in firm control at a time when Atletico had been growing.

Before scoring his goal, Diaby rattled the crossbar with a near-perfect effort from long range which had Adan as much of a spectator as those in the stands.

But then he did get his reward, linking up with Timothy Weah to punish a defensive error and slot coolly past Antonio Adan who had looked tough to beat.

Loser: Luciano Vietto

Things just did not go right for Atletico’s attacking players on Monday.

With so many big names absent, it was up to Kevin Gameiro, Angel Correa and Luciano Vietto to provide the goal threat against PSG.

And while Gameiro may have missed a handful of chances, as the game went on Vietto gave the Frenchman a run for his money in terms of the worst misses of the game.

Nothing seemed to work out for Vietto, in a game that was completed summed up by the Argentine’s miss from close range as Atletico looked to press their opponents.

Winner: Antonio Adan

Despite conceding two three in the game, Antonio Adan did himself no harm in fighting for Jan Oblak place as starting goalkeeper.

Fresh off the back of his debut against Arsenal which saw him save three penalties and score the winner in the shootout, Adan was a confident figure in goal.

The Spaniard made a number of good saves throughout the match to deny PSG’s various attacking players and Atletico would have been further behind had it not been for Adan.

Oblak will certainly be Atletico’s number one goalkeeper when the competitive season starts, but Adan has proved himself to be more than just a back up and could yet fight for a starting role.

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