Does Kevin Trapp's Bordeaux Nightmare Open the Door at PSG for Salvatore Sirigu?

Paris Saint-Germain dropped their first points of the Ligue 1 season in a 2-2 draw at home to 10-man Girondins de Bordeaux on Friday. A first-half double from Edinson Cavani sandwiched a Kevin Trapp own goal, and Wahbi Khazri cancelled out the French champions’ lead for a second time with 11 minutes to go.

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Henri Saivet’s first-half header pressured PSG’s German goalkeeper enough to panic and help the ball into his own net, but Willy Sagnol’s temporary captain saw red for an unnecessary second yellow card late on. Despite the Senegal international’s dismissal, Les Girondins still managed to salvage a deserved draw.

Trapp, having scored an own goal in the first 45, was at fault again in the second with a major error that will go down as one of the worst goalkeeping mistakes in recent memory.

Marquinhos, making his first start of the season, played a simple pass back to Trapp in the 79th minute, and all that the summer signing had to do was clear the ball or play another straightforward pass to a team-mate.

However, the former Eintracht Frankfurt man froze, giving Khazri enough time to sneak in, steal the ball and score.

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Bordeaux’s first equaliser, although it goes down as a Trapp own goal, is perhaps not entirely the German’s fault. Cavani did him no favours by ducking out of the way as Saivet made glancing contact with the cross as it made its way toward the PSG goal.

The 25-year-old has nobody to blame for the visitors’ second leveller, though, committing a simply indefensible mistake to create a goalscoring opportunity out of nothing for Les Girondins.

Capital club coach Laurent Blanc admitted to the press (h/t Ligue1.com) after the final whistle that Trapp’s error in judgment cost his side the points. However, he also expressed his desire for his goalkeeper to keep taking risks, despite the setback.

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That's football. Certain people will say Bordeaux were rewarded for their courage and that is not false. We could have won 2-1, but that doesn't change my analysis. We are disappointed. The two goalkeepers made errors. So if we are going to comfort Kevin we'll have to do the same with Carrasso. I ask Trapp to take a lot of risks because, for me, wanting to play out from the back is in the spirit of the game. I hope he keeps trying it and that next time it will come off. It didn't work this time but he will not change the way he plays.

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Coming into the Bordeaux clash, Trapp had kept four clean sheets in four Ligue 1 games. However, the PSG No. 16 had not been thoroughly tested in any of that first quartet of fixtures, and a weakened Girondins side—surprisingly—posed Le Championnat’s defending champions more problems than even the likes of AS Monaco managed to before the recent international break.

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Trapp failed his first real test, and now he must put the bad experience behind him and move on. However, even though Blanc came out in support of one of his summer signings, it does not mean the 1. FC Kaiserslautern youth academy product has not lost points in his coach’s eyes.

Since the start of the season, Trapp has been the first choice, and former starting goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu has been unceremoniously pushed toward the exit without the new arrival having even been thoroughly tested competitively.

From his displays so far in Ligue 1, it is clear why Blanc prefers Trapp to Sirigu. The German is both strong in the air and good with his feet, two areas that are not the Italian’s strongest points. The latter is still more experienced than the former, though, and PSG are yet to play in a really high-pressure game.

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Those bigger fixtures are coming, with the UEFA Champions League getting underway when Malmo FF visit on Tuesday and bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille looming on the Ligue 1 calendar in early October.

However, judging by his post-Bordeaux comments, Blanc is likely to stick with Trapp—at least against Malmo—as his first-choice goalkeeper.

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The new arrival’s performances against the Swedes, Stade de Reims and EA Guingamp could decide whether he is ready to be Le President’s starting netminder. Trips to face FC Nantes and Shakhtar Donetsk would be enough to get Sirigu back up to speed ahead of Marseille if the French tactician does decide to reverse the pair’s roles.

After facing a bleak future until the Bordeaux draw, the Italy international all of a sudden has something that gives him hope of regaining his starting role.

Sirigu will be buoyed by Trapp’s slip, and another shaky display or two could provoke more serious reflection from Blanc on the situation during a tough run of seven games in 23 days.