SECOND FRIENDLY WIN FOR PARIS

Paris Saint-Germain recorded their second successive friendly victory as goals to Chantôme (49') and Ongenda (55') secured a 2-0 win over Hammarby at the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm on Tuesday.

After a first training camp in Austria ended with a win over Rapid Vienna, the Parisians began their second preseason camp in Sweden with a match against local side Hammarby. In the homeland of PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the undisputed star for the 23,047 spectators in the brand new Tele2 Arena, Paris coach Laurent Blanc was counting on his side continuing to progress with the competition just around the corner...

It was Gregory van der Wiel that got the ball rolling as he picked up possession on the edge of the area, cut outside onto the right and fired at goal where Hopf made the save (3'). Very lively early, the Dutch right-back was again shooting on sight minutes later, but he failed to hit the target (22'). The nit was the youngster Coman who found himself through on Hopf's goal, but he dragged his effort wide (25').

Seconds later, Thiago Motta picked out Javier Pastore in the middle, 20m out. With his back to goal, the Argentine turned and shot, only to see the ball hit the post (25')! Van der Wiel was involved in all the best moves and he was the next to test to solidity of the woodwork at the new stadium as the shots rained down on goal (31')! There was another effort from the Dutch No.23 (41'), as well as Pastore (44') and Thiago Motta (45') before the break and it remained somehow scoreless at half time.

However, the breakthrough wasn't long in coming. Verratti, who was making his first appearance of the season, like Ibrahimovic and Matuidi, Sakho and Lavezzi, made the difference as soon as he came on. The Italian released Chantôme in behind the defence and he acrobatically controlled the ball before dribbling Hopf and knocking the ball home (0-1, 49'). Paris didn't rest on their laurels.

Just minutes later, Pastore picked out Ongenda with a throughball and the young Parisian, clean through on goal, made no mistake, firing past Hopf in the Hammarby goal (0-2, 55'). It was a second goal for the Paris Saint-Germain academy graduate after his strike against Sturm Graz.

The substitutions were coming thick and fast (18 in all!) which saw some of the rhythm and intensity drop out of the game. But the main thing was the performance and it was another solid outing from Laurent Blanc's men. It was the perfect way to prepare for the prestigious friendly match against Real Madrid and... a certain Carlo Ancelotti. That match is this Saturday!

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