PSG - match report

Schalke impress in 3-1 win over PSG

The Royal Blues have made a successful start to the UEFA Cup group stage! After the 3-1 home win over Paris Saint-Germain head coach Fred Rutten was not the only one delighted by "three fine goals from open play".

For the noise made by the 48,919 spectators at the VELTINS Arena showed they were just as happy with Schalke's showing. "Our aim was to start the group stage with a win. And that's what we did", the 45-year-old said after the game. "It's not always easy to do so well in games like these when the expectations are so high going into them."

PSG boss Paul Le Guen stayed true to his pre-match word and completely rejigged his team, with only goalkeeper Mickael Landreau and captain Sylvain Arnaud of the regular starting line-up named in the side.  The thinking behind this being that the weekend's trip to Olympique Marseille is more important and that two home wins in the group stage should be enough to see them through, reasoning that could prove wonky, however, as the competition unfolds.

Yet this should not take anything away from the Schalke performance. PSG's second string undoubtedly gave their all in a bid to play themselves into contention for a regular berth in the starting eleven. But they can have had no time to gel – and the Royal Blues took full advantage by closing them down early and then moving the ball around at pace. A tactic that saw them take the lead after 13 minutes when Jermaine Jones and Levan Kobiashvili combined down the left and Larry Mabiala diverted the Georgian's cross into his own net. Even better was Kevin Kuranyi's piledriver to make it 2-0 on 39. "Schalke are a strong team, but we created some chances of our own. And we could easily have made it 1-1 just before the interval", said Le Guen, recalling the opening for Mateja Kezman, who met his match in Manuel Neuer, however, as so often during the evening.

After the break Schalke's attention was initially focused on rebuilding their central defence. Marcelo Bordon was forced to withdraw with an upset stomach on 54, and then Heiko Westermann sustained an ankle injury and had to go off. They were replaced by Benedikt Höwedes and Mladen Krstajic respectively. The changes had no negative effects, however, especially when Halil Altintop made it 3-0 on 69 after a neat one-two with Kuranyi. With that the game was as good as over, even though Schalke conspired to waste a number of opportunities to extend their lead still further. Instead, Chantome grabbed a consolation goal for the visitors in stoppage time.

"I had hoped for more from the team we had on the pitch. But as we saw we don't have players of equal merit in every position", said Le Guen. "Schalke were clearly the better side. We now have put tonight's game behind us as quickly as possible."

Schalke: Neuer - Rafinha, Westermann (Krstajic 64'), Bordon (Höwedes 54'), Kobiashvili, - Jones, Ernst (Rakitic 72'), Engelaar - Farfan, Kuranyi, Altintop
Paris: Landreau - Mulumbu (Sakho 46'), Mabiala, Traore, Armand - Ngoyi, Clement, Sankhare (Luyindula 75') Chantome, Kezman, Arnaud (Rothen 75')
Goals: 1-0 Mabiala (o.g. 13'), 2-0 Kuranyi (39'), 3-0 Altintop (69'), 3-1 Chantome (90'+2)
Referee: Rocchi (Italy)
Attendance: 48,919
Yellow cards: Westermann, Rafinha - Mulumbu, Ngoyi