A lethal weapon leads Saint-Germain to score a third of its goals this season sports

Paris Saint-Germain benefited from the diversity of its attacking options, transforming from a team that relied only on open play into a decisive and dangerous team on set pieces.

Last Saturday, the French team succeeded in snatching the winning goal in its match against Nice in the 11th round of the league, taking advantage of a corner kick executed by South Korean Kang-In Lee, as the ball reached the head of Portuguese Gonzalo Ramos, who turned it into the net.

Dramatic moments in the last seconds! 😱🔥

Paris Saint-Germain snatches victory and scores three valuable points against Nice! 👏⚽️#French_League #ParisSaint-Germain #Nice pic.twitter.com/RHzCCMAxaq

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) November 1, 2025

The French newspaper “Le Parisien” reported that Saint-Germain scored 11 goals out of 35 this season from set pieces, that is, almost a third of the goals.

Lethal weapon

The newspaper pointed out that in previous years, the team needed 38 set-pieces in order to score one goal, but now the rate has improved greatly thanks to the great work of Raphael Paul, who is responsible for set-piece training at Saint-Germain in recent months.

During the first 11 rounds of the French League, coach Luis Enrique’s team scored 5 goals from 72 corners, in addition to a goal in the Champions League that came after only 19 corners, which means that Saint-Germain scores a goal from every 15 corners on average.

The scoring rate from free kicks last season as a whole was only 8.9%, while it reached 19.4% less than 3 months after the start of the current season, according to the newspaper’s data.

Le Parisien commented on these data by saying, “Fixed balls have become the new deadly weapon” for Paris Saint-Germain.

When asked about the secret of this development, Enrique preferred his answer to be ambiguous, and said with a smile, “If I explain our method of work, everyone will know it.”

He added, “We are working like all teams. We have improved since last season, especially in the Champions League. We have improved defensively and offensively, and we want to continue this approach.”

Saint-Germain recently signed players such as Willian Pacho, Lucas Peraldo, and Ilya Zabarny, as part of a technical plan aimed at enhancing the physical strength and height of the players in order to increase effectiveness in tackles and air balls, especially set pieces.

These contracts were also accompanied by specialized training programs supervised by members of the Performance Department, in cooperation with the technical staff of the French capital team.

The analytical work relies on data and videos to identify points of weakness and improvement, with a comprehensive video analysis session allocated on the eve of each match, and another on the day of the match that focuses on the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses in dead-ball situations.

Enrique’s philosophy

For his part, Francis Guillot, former coach of Lens, believes that this development is consistent with Enrique’s philosophy based on possession.

Gilo explained, “Instead of sending the ball directly to the opponent’s goalkeeper or risking seeing the defense push it away, the team keeps the ball around the penalty area, which allows it to draw the opponent forward and find small spaces for quick exchanges and breaking the defensive block.”

He continued, “Before Ramos’s last goal, all of the previous six goals came from corners or indirect free balls after exchanging at least two passes.”

Guillot concluded, “In Paris, they have players who are able to put the ball wherever they want, so it is no wonder that set pieces have become an effective weapon. Indeed, their effectiveness is increasing day after day.”