Munetsi Shines Despite Reims’ Loss To PSG

Warriors Midfielder Nyasha Marshall Munetsi was unquestionably Stade Reims’ best player of the match despite a 0-2 loss to a star-studded Paris Saint-Germain side on Sunday night in a Ligue 1 encounter.

The 25-year-old former Orlando Pirates midfielder played the whole 90 minutes and made 60 touches, 91% pass accuracy, won 10 out of 15 duels in the midfield battle that featured Idrissa Gueye, Marco Veratti and Giorginio Wijnaldum with Neymar and Angel Di Maria occupying the left and right wings respectively.

Goal scorer Kylian Mbappe was operating at the center of attack and did not disappoint as he bagged both goals in the 16th and 63rd minutes respectively.

Playing in his now customary number six role that essentially sees him operate as the battling and ball winning midfielder, Munetsi hardly put a foot wrong.

In defensive actions the former Friendly Academy player was also impressive as he made three clearances, three interceptions and four tackles.

He even had a goal disallowed in the 52nd minutes after pouncing on a parry from close range to equalise 1-all, but the goal was cancelled after a long VAR check.

Lionel Messi was later introduced in the 66th minutes for his friend and fellow attacker Neymar as he marked his Ligue 1 debut.

The Argentine’s 24 minutes on the field didn’t trouble Munetsi much as he only made two attempted connections to Kylian Mbappe.

Munetsi has now started in three out of Stade Reims’ four Ligue 1 matches so far this season with a goal to his name.