Gianluigi Donnarumma has unjustly become a figure of ridicule following Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League collapse, suffering as a result of wider issues in the French team.
The French giants suffered an embarrassing 3-1 loss to Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu earlier this week, with Karim Benzema stamping his authority on the match by netting a hattrick to book Los Blancos’ place in the quarter-finals of the competition.
Donnarumma was clearly at fault for Benzema’s first goal, being caught out with the ball at his feet and allowing the French striker to pounce. It was an embarrassing scene for the Italian shot stopper, who has often been ridiculed by Milan fans following his departure on a free transfer last summer.
Despite the calamitous error, however, Donnarumma should not be blamed for PSG’s defeat and ultimately their elimination from the Champions League. The 23-year-old Italian shot stopper made four important saves and faced significantly more pressure from the opponents than his counter-part Thibaut Courtois did.
Donnarumma faced seven shots on target in total, one of which was a result of his mistake, and Real Madrid launched 14 crosses into his penalty area. In comparison, Courtois only faced four shots on target and only had to deal with a single cross, a sign of both PSG’s attacking faults and defensive instability.
Many suggested that PSG would have fared better with Keylor Navas in goal, but the stats highlight how the Italian is a more secure choice than the Costa Rican.
Donnarumma has a post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed (PSxG+/-) of +2.1, significantly better than Navas’ +0.2. The stat essentially shows how the former Milan man saves more shots than he should, based on the quality of the attempts, doing so at a better rate than his counter-part.
PSG undeniably have some mentality issues regarding the Champions League and the majority of the team played extremely poorly against Real Madrid, so it’s decidedly unfair to single out Donnarumma for their elimination from the competition.
Listen, I get the is an Italian football website and Donnarumma is Italian, so it’s, perhaps, natural to want to defend him against the heat he currently faces but the bottom line is he was at fault.
His error gave Madrid belief and the PSG defence became shaky as a direct consequence of his error. He’s 23 y/o, he’s had issues with composure on the ball since he burst onto the scene. It’s his problem if he still hasn’t corrected that or even improved on it
And in the first leg Courtois was under constant pressure, yet he saved almost everything plus a penalty from Messi. That’s a great goalkeeper.
Defense became shaky Marqhinos clearly gave the ball away for the other 2 goals and then what happen to God of football Messi and all other superstars mbappe etc.
Everybody is focused on the error, but was it really an error?
I went and see that again and he was pushed rather jostle like I might add and no whistle and clearly went off balance as he tried to clear it away.
Because it’s a CL game there should have been a whistle, and the stumbling with the delay also suggests the keeper (and others like the coach etc) felt it would be called.
Lk at the video and we see a school yard bullying thing going on where keeper was pushed quasi thrown down causing off balance.
Now if we sit here and start with well he has a pattern of this, or it was a soft foul, or etc we lose focus of what we see. We clearly see a keeper being thrown down and he manages to break his fall and then stumbles to clear the ball. Even Carlito RM coach admitted that they were actually practicing this in training, there was intent and they even admitted it too. You know intent is always the worst thing one can do to another and he even admitted it in an article here that they practiced this.
Stats are important in football as an overview. But football is beyond stats.
I feel bad when I read some people sitting on the computer analyzing football without ever stepping unto the pitch…. Particularly football Italia staff,I’m sorry to say, but playing football isn’t by mouth and donnarumma made mistake simple as ABC
I’d say Marquinhos is more to blame…
Juve fan here and I don’t care at all about Donnarumma or if he’ll ever play again. I was voting for Real Madrid because I’m a huge fan of Ancelloti. With that said, IMO Donnarumma was fouled, inside the penalty box, put your leg on the goalie without touching the ball? That’s a foul.
Donnarumma was def fouled by karim benzina for the goal. Even with var madrid still manage to sh1thouse their way through the tournament.
Donna is to blame
He should be blamed if Italy fails to qualify for the WC… he clearly lost match fitness and fluency after leaving Milan to become a substitute goalkeeper… wrong career choice!
This is an Italian media, so obviously Donnarumma is highly rated above Navas… Not saying this as a Milan fan because it’s Donnarumma, I don’t care what’s going on with him because we obviously don’t miss him, I was happy he left Milan but as a football fan. The Italian is better than the Costa Rican but I bet if Navas was English, you wouldn’t dare say that about a goal keeper of his experience and the stuff he has won ( 🏆🏆🏆)… Navas should be rated as Buffon if not more! If Buffon won the stuff Navas did, you guys would have made him Goat already but being a Costa Rican or coming from other part of the world, they are never equally rated… Barbaric!
@Stan (Milanfan) Buffon was instrumental in Italy winning the World Cup. If Cannavaro hadn’t been amazing in that cup, Buffon was a serious contender for the Ballon D’Or… Something unheard of amongst keepers since Yashin, so what else does he need to win? Likewise Donnarumma effectively won Italy the Euros with him performances in the knockout stages and he’s not 35 either so it makes sense for PSG to focus on developing him. This isn’t about origin even if you want it to be.
@Forza milano If anyone is to blame for Italy not qualifying, it’s Jorginho for missing his penalties. He blew it twice and at this level, that’s makes the difference.