By Daily Sports Nigeria on February 20, 2023

Lionel Messi scored a 95th-minute free-kick to give Paris Saint-Germain a 4-3 win over Lille in an extraordinary Ligue 1 game on Sunday in which Kylian Mbappe scored twice but Neymar was taken off on a stretcher with an ankle injury.

Messi’s late winner came after PSG had squandered a two-goal lead and fallen 3-2 behind, with Mbappe grabbing a late equaliser before the Argentine’s stunning strike.

The result ends a run of three straight defeats for PSG and moves them seven points clear at the top from Monaco, who beat Brest 2-1 away later in the day.

However, Marseille can move back up to second place, and to within five points of the leaders, with a win at Toulouse on Sunday evening before they host PSG next weekend.

“We came through it. It wasn’t a great performance,” Mbappe told broadcaster Amazon Prime.

“We made lots of mistakes and lost concentration too often and against a quality side you pay dearly for that, but we showed that even when we are not at our best and the context is not exactly favourable we are a different team with different players and we can always find a way.”

Of immediate concern to the Parisians is the injury to Neymar, who looked to be in tears as he was helped onto a stretcher early in the second half after turning his right ankle.

The Brazilian’s fitness is now likely to dominate headlines in the run-up to next week’s Marseille showdown but also the second leg of PSG’s Champions League last-16 tie against Bayern Munich on March 8.

– Ankle injury –

“‘Ney’ has sprained his ankle. We will see how serious it is. We don’t know yet — he is undergoing tests at the moment,” said PSG coach Christophe Galtier, who also saw left-back Nuno Mendes come off in the first half with an ankle ligament injury that the coach insisted “doesn’t seem too serious.”

“I hope ‘Ney’ is going to come back quickly because he is an important player for us,” added Mbappe about his Brazilian teammate.

Galtier’s team were looking to bounce back from a 1-0 home loss to Bayern in the first leg of that European tie and they went ahead early on against Lille through Mbappe, making his first start after returning from a recent thigh injury.

Neymar soon made it 2-0 against a side PSG beat 7-1 in their last meeting in August, but Bafode Diakite pulled one back for Lille midway through the first half.

The home side then saw Neymar carried off within five minutes of the second half starting, and Lille drew level when Jonathan David converted a penalty for his 17th goal this season following a Marco Verratti foul in the box.

Jonathan Bamba made it 3-2 to the away side with a superb finish and the home side looked set for a fourth successive loss before Mbappe converted from a Juan Bernat assist with just three minutes remaining.

That was his 27th goal this season in all competitions, but it was not the end of the drama as Messi won a free-kick when he was fouled just outside the area by Benjamin Andre.

The World Cup winner stepped up to dispatch the dead ball into the net off the post to round off a remarkable game.

Monaco beat PSG last weekend before a 3-2 victory away to Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg of their Europa League play-off on Thursday.

The principality side went in front late in the first half against Brest through Aleksandr Golovin, and a rare goal from Dutch forward Myron Boadu doubled their lead, with Jeremy Le Douaron pulling one back.

Rennes, who lost to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Europa League in midweek, moved back above Lille into fifth by beating Clermont 2-0, with ex-PSG forward Arnaud Kalimuendo scoring both their goals.

There were also wins for Lorient and Montpellier, while Strasbourg moved out of the relegation zone on Saturday by beating bottom side Angers 2-1 in their first game under new coach Frederic Antonetti.

Fellow strugglers Auxerre beat Lyon 2-1 on Friday, while Nice and Reims drew 0-0.

Source Punch Ng

Posted February 20, 2023

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