A 70th minute Layvin Kurzawa goal spared Unai Emery’s blushes on his debut Ligue 1 match at his new club, as the reigning champions began their season with three points.
A large majority of the first half belonged to the home side, with Bastia creating a few good chances, but never really testing Kevin Trapp in the PSG goal. Bastia did look the more likelier of the sides to open the scoring, but they wasted a fair amount of chances, something that would end up costing them dearly.
Angel Di Maria came closest for PSG in what was a rather poor first half for Les Parisiens, but his shot could only sting the palms of Leca in the Bastia goal.
The score remained 0-0 at the break, and Emery needed to change things up in the second half if he was going to start his reign with a victory.
Paris piled on the pressure as the second half started to flow in their favour, but they couldn’t turn the vast amount of possession into any clear cut chances, until the 70th minute, when substitute Jese, making his debut, had his shot parried back into the box into the path of Kurzawa, who sweetly volleyed into the roof of the net to give PSG the lead.
It took longer than they would have wanted, but PSG managed to hang on for the three points, and showed that life without Zlatan Ibrahimovic isn’t so bad after all. That being said, their next two games against Metz and home and Monaco away will give a better indication of how they will play under new boss Emery.
As for Bastia, they will be relieved that they have managed to get one of the toughest fixtures out of the way early on, but will be slightly disappointed that they couldn’t hang on for at least a point.
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