PSG boss Christophe Galtier will be giving World Cup stars Kylian Mbappé and Achraf Hakimi breather in the Coupe de France Round of 64 after the Ligue 1 Uber Eats leaders fell to their first defeat of the season, 3-1 in Lens, in Round 17 on Sunday.
The Galtier era at Paris Saint-Germain has been characterised by the flair of his megastar attacking trio of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar Jr, an extremely stingy defence (second-best in the league) and the side's outright refusal to lose.
Breather
However, on Sunday night, defeat came calling for the first time as the capital club "lost its organisation" in a white-hot Stade Bollaert, and Galtier confirmed after the match that Kylian Mbappé and Morocco right-back Achraf Hakimi - both of whom started against Lens - would get a well-earned break in Paris Saint-Germain's next outing, against Chateauroux in the Coupe de France round of 64.
"They will have a few days' rest," said Galtier of the duo who returned to club training just days after their stellar World Cup performances in Qatar.
>> MATCH REPORT: Brilliant Lens inflict first defeat of season on PSG
Galtier will have Neymar Jr (suspended against Lens) back for that match, while Lionel Messi has only just returned to France following extended World Cup celebrations, but Galtier made it clear that it wasn't just in attack that his team had failed to fire as they fell to their first defeat of the season.
"Obviously we’re disappointed. Whenever you lose, you’re disappointed, but above and beyond the result itself, I was frustrated by the way in which we played tonight," said the capital club boss, who will also have to do without suspended midfield lynchpin Marco Verratti for the Coupe clash.
"We made far too many mistakes against a Lens side that deserved their victory. We fell behind early but did well to equalise almost immediately. But we then conceded two very avoidable goals, especially the second one where we were caught on the counterattack and we should have been more balanced and organised. We tried to fight back and we had a chance to make it 3-2, but for the first time this season, we completely lost our organisation. Why? I’m not sure, but we will talk with the players concerned and look at the different domains of our play."
PSG travel to Châteauroux for their Coupe clash on Friday, 6 January (21:00 CET).
