Football superstars from Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain including Angel Di Maria, Arien Rabiot, Laywin Kurzawa and Javier Pastore played in an intra-club FIFA 17 tournament organised by the makers of the game, EA. The tournament features the footballers paired in two teams with Di Maria and Pastore forming an all-Argentine team while Rabiot and Kurzawa make up the other team.
EA regularly hold FIFA tournaments between players from different clubs across Europe. And teams like Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund have all been parts of such tournaments with players taking away a trophy if they manage to win the competition.
Apart from FIFA 17 tournaments, EA also holds drill competitions with clubs where drills from the game are replicated on clubs’ training grounds and a competition is held to decide which player has the best technical ability.
As mentioned earlier, the players were divided into two teams, with both pairs opting to choose Paris Saint-Germain as their team of choice. The Di Maria-Pastore pair’s team was in PSG home colours while the Rabiot and Kurzawa had to settle for the orange away strip.
The all-French pair opened the scoring with Serge Aurier heading in a goal from a corner in the 35th minute. The momentum, however, shifted after the home side conceded and they responded with an attacking blitz resulting in clear-cut chances. However, they were not able to convert. The game ended at 1-0 with the away side walking away with the honours.
Angel Di Maria is not enjoying the best of seasons with PSG with assist and goal production showing a concerning dip. And the ill-luck seems to have stayed with him in the FIFA tournament too with his side unlucky to not convert their chances. The winger will be praying for a quick turnaround in fortunes.
The player tournament is a great initiative by EA which brings the FIFA gaming community closer to the real-life athletes. Also, using real life athletes playing FIFA 17 increases the credibility and reach of the game. Such initiatives are always welcome and will be lapped up by FIFA fans.
