Istanbul (AFP)

The Paris SG followed his "Moïse".

Author of a double, striker Moise Kean on Wednesday saved PSG from drowning on the lawn of Basaksehir Istanbul (2-0), to keep intact his chances of qualifying in the Champions League.

For the moment, it's a good pick: Kean has already scored more times in Red and Blue than in his last season at Everton (4 goals against 2)!

The 20-year-old Italian rookie, who came at the very end of the transfer window to make up for the departures of Edinson Cavani and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, made a great start that nobody saw coming.

After a failed year in England, the former prodigy, who in 2018 became the first selected for the Italian team born in the 2000s, demonstrates in the capital the qualities that make him a regular in Azzurri gatherings.

In Turkey, he opened the scoring with a header, an area where Parisian attackers are usually not very effective, on a corner from Kylian Mbappé (64th).

He then sealed the victory with a pivotal recovery full of rage, with the left foot (79th).

Author of a double against Dijon (4-0) Saturday in Ligue 1, in a completely different style (at the finish, with the right foot each time), Kean achieved the same performance in the Champions League, for his first tenure in the competition ...

Obviously promising.

And to think that coach Thomas Tuchel does not use him as a winger, his favorite position, but rather in the axis, in support of Kylian Mbappé, in a role close to that of Mauro Icardi before his injury.

- "Support" for Mbappé and Neymar -

"Sometimes, we lack a guy in front like Moise to finish, to also fix a defender to open the space for Kylian or Ney", explained the German technician before the match at the microphone of RMC Sports.

"For Moise, he has the ability to fight physically with central defenders, which is not Kylian's characteristic. I hope he will be a good support for Kylian and Ney," he continued.

Kean did better, in a match that Neymar did not finish, due to a muscle injury (26th).

Mbappé, he was the victim of his clumsiness (37th) or that of his teammates, like Pablo Sarabia (46th), when he played collective.

For a long time, Paris was held in check by Turks without complexes, and without a great Keylor Navas in the cages and the double of Kean, Thomas Tuchel's team would have got into a mess.

The double against Dijon, "it gave me the courage to progress," said the Italian of Ivorian origin at the microphone of TV5 Monde, assuring to have been "well received by a great, young group."

It remains to be seen what place Kean will occupy in the return of Icardi, announced imminent, after glitches in one knee during the truce.

Tuchel, who often praises the importance of having competition, is served.

© 2020 AFP