29 June 2007, by Sean Gillen

Portuguese Abroad season review:
Pauleta and PSG

Pauleta crowned goal king despite arduous season

Pedro Pauleta’s seventh season in French football was without doubt his most testing, with the Portuguese striker’s ability to perform at the highest level questioned for the first time since he arrived in Ligue 1 in 2000.

Paris Saint-Germain’s nightmare season saw the team from the capital dragged into a relegation battle, while Pauleta was faced with the unfamiliar prospect of not always being an automatic first choice.

Despite being one of the best supported clubs in the country, PSG are often French football’s big underachievers, and the early signs were not good when a penalty shootout defeat to Lyon in the Super Cup was followed by a 3-2 home defeat to Lorient on the opening day of Le Championnat.

Poor start

Pauleta had found himself on the bench against Lorient, but was quickly recalled to the starting eleven and scored his first goal of the season in a 1-0 win over Lille on matchday three. However, two consecutive defeats followed and the team went on to win just two of their opening eight games.

In the past, critics have often claimed that Pauleta carries the PSG attack, and the Azorean scored his side’s only goal as they went down 3-1 at home to bitter rivals Marseille, increasing the pressure on manager Guy Lacombe.

An unconvincing win over Irish minnows Derry City saw PSG through to the Uefa Cup group stage, during which Pauleta scored three goals in four games as the team advanced to the knockout round.

Criticism

Things were going less well domestically, with a run of eight Ligue 1 games without a victory spelling the end for Lacombe. He was replaced by Paul Le Guen in mid-January as the team sat one place above the relegation zone and Pauleta, who had scored just six league goals, began to feel the heat from critics.

The new boss kept Pauleta in the line-up, and although the Portuguese did snatch a crucial equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Marseille, he and the team struggled for goals. It took until Le Guen’s fifth game in charge for his first victory, at Monaco, and the win sparked a four-match winning run, during which PSG advanced past AEK Athens in the Uefa Cup.

However, after losing to Sochaux in the French Cup, the team endured a terrible month in March, with Pauleta publicly admitting his concerns. A 2-0 home defeat to St Etienne was the first of four straight Ligue 1 defeats, while Pauleta managed score in both legs as PSG went out to Benfica in the Uefa Cup.

Le Guen hasd reduced Pauleta’s involvement, but the veteran striker hit back at claims he was on the way down with a brace in a 4-0 win over Nantes. Nevertheless, Pauleta started just two of the team’s five games in April as PSG took 13 points from 15 to drag themselves away from danger.

France’s top scorer

A fresher Pauleta started the last four games of the season, and after bagging three goals in the team’s final two games against Troyes and Lorient, ended a turbulent season as the French league’s top goalscorer.

                                Season stats - Pauleta

                        Substitute appearances in brackets