There are evenings like this where everything works out for you, that was the case on Sunday for Marco Verratti. Against Reims (4-0), at the end of the 22nd day of Ligue 1, the Italian international midfielder found the net for the first time with Paris since April 3, 2019 against Nantes (3-0) in semi- French Cup final. And it’s not one goal, but two that the Little Owl scored against the Champenois.
Marco Verratti’s first double since his arrival at PSG in 2012 was confirmed on Monday by the Professional Football League (LFP) Competitions Committee which, as it does the day after each day, ruled on the scorers and weekend passers.
“First double in Ligue 1 Uber Eats for Marco Verratti. Already a scorer in the first period against Stade de Reims, the small Paris Saint-Germain midfielder was awarded his club’s third goal on Monday. After studying the images, the LFP competitions commission granted him this achievement, his shot being initially on target before the successive deviations of Rémois Andreaw Gravillon and Wout Faes, ”explains the League in a press release.
The third Parisian goal was first attributed to Wout Faes against his side on Sunday evening, before being registered in favor of Marco Verratti early this Monday on the League site. This kind of change can happen. This is not a first, even if it remains quite rare. In fact, the live commentary on Ligue1.fr of the matches is managed by the company Stats Perform, which is responsible for entering the first information. All the goals and assists are systematically evaluated the next day by the Competitions Committee, which validates or not these statistics and thus updates the rankings.
After reviewing the images, the ten members of the League’s competitions commission, chaired by André Preaud, gave their opinion. A majority, they felt on Monday that the double ricochet on Gravillon and Faes was no more impactful than the shot from Marco Verratti who took the direction of the frame anyway. The 29-year-old midfielder has 11 goals in 363 games played with PSG now. After the meeting, Mauricio Pochettino did not hide his pleasure to see him finally score. “He can occupy any position in midfield, he has the quality to do so. It’s good that he scored. I am satisfied that he can add that to his game, ”confided the Parisian coach soberly at a press conference. Verratti is only one goal away from his best total in a season with PSG, reached in 2014-2015 and 2016-2017, with three achievements.