PSG 0-0 Al-Nassr
In the opening match of their pre-season tour of Japan, Paris Saint Germain were held to a goalless draw by Al-Nassr.
Had the circumstances been different, it would’ve been a match where the lovers of the game would’ve been able to enjoy Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe lining up against each other. As it is, Mbappe has been left out of the Japan tour, and his future remains extremely unclear at the moment.
Mbappe is reportedly of strong interest to Al-Hilal, which means we could yet witness these players facing each other competitively during the 2023/24 season. PSG are said to be frustrated with the situation where they could yet lose their most valuable asset for free next term, and they’ve given Mbappe a choice – to sign a new contract or be sold.
They cannot, of course, force Mbappe to accept a move where he doesn’t want to go, and his wish remains Real Madrid. Al-Hilal are believed to have put together an offer worth in total a whopping €300 million to sign Mbappe this summer, and they’re willing to give him a one-year contract so he can fulfill his wish to join Real next summer as a free agent. It appears to be a solution to everyone’s problems in this matter, though it remains to be seen if the French forward wants to spend a season playing in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Al-Nassr have already signed a number of high-quality players from European leagues, building on the acquisition of Ronaldo at the start of the year. The likes of Marcelo Brozovic, Alex Telles and Seko Fofana have joined the club, and they continue to be linked with other significant names in the game.
As for this game, it was expectedly dominated by PSG, who had more of the ball (65%) and created more chances. Al-Nassr had a couple of opportunities of their own, but it was the two goalkeepers who stood out with excellent saves. Both Gianluigi Donnarumma and Nawaf Alaqidi made some excellent saves to deny their opponents.
Newcomers Milan Skriniar, Lucas Hernandez, Cher Ndour and Marco Asensio all started for the Ligue 1 giants, with Manuel Ugarte coming on off the bench. The last 30 minutes saw Mbappe’s 16-year-old brother Ethan take to the pitch as well.
Porto Wolves
Having narrowly lost the Primeira Liga title to Benfica, FC Porto haven’t exactly been active in the summer market. They’ve only signed one player so far – striker Fran Navarro from Gil Vicente for €7 million, while four of the five departures left them with no compensation. On the other hand, the only player they did get money for – defender Diego Leite who joined Union Berlin for €7.5m, got them into a positive balance.
Wolves have also lost a number of important players, most notably Ruben Neves who went to Al-Hilal for €55m, former captain Conor Coady who will now play for Leicester City for 8.7million, defender Nathan Collins who has joined Brentford for close to €30 million, and winger Adama Traore who is still considering his option after his contract expired.
Julen Lopetegui is set to lose his star striker as well, after the club reportedly agreed to sell Raul Jimenez to Fulham.
Matheus Cunha has arrived for €55 million from Atletico Madrid to replace Jimenez, as have midfielder Boubacar Traore from Metz and goalkeeper Tom King from Northampton. The Molineux faithful will likely be happy with the return of right-back Matt Doherty, who accompanied Cunha on the trip from Madrid as a free agent.
Porto and Wolves faced each other in a pre-season friendly at the Estadio Municipal da Bela Vista in the city of Parchal, Portugal. The Premier League side emerged as the winners of a tight contest, in which Pedro Neto scored the only goal in the 19th minute. It was a game that fully reflected the time of the year, with neither side looking particularly set for competitive action, though there was plenty of passion and neither team shied away from making strong tackles.
Going down relatively early, Porto went with all their strength in search of an equalizer and dominated the proceedings for a large portion of the 90 minutes, but they created preciously little and eventually failed. Wolves defence was mostly impeccable, with Max Kilman arguably as the standout performer, while even the attacking players took their defensive responsibilities rather seriously.
Cunha started the game for Wolves ahead of Fabio Silva, while Doherty and Traore got their chance off the bench in the second half.
Wolves face Celtic next and then Premier League rivals Luton Town, before their final friendly against Rennes. They begin their competitive season with a Premier League fixture against Manchester United at the Molineux, on August 14th.
Meanwhile, Porto will play against newly promoted Liga Portugal side Estrela Amadora next. Then it’s a match against Rayo Vallecano, before they take on Benfica in the Portuguese Super Cup on August 9th. They begin their league campaign away to Morierense four days later.
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