Paris Saint-Germain ended their series of three defeats by beating Lille (4-3) after a completely crazy match, where they lost Neymar to injury on Sunday for the 24th day of Ligue 1. Christophe Galtier had to go through all the feelings on his bench. Reassured at 2-0 on the involvement of his family, worried about “Ney”, released on a stretcher (51st), devastated when Lille led 3-2 (69th) and finally relieved on the delicious free kick from Lionel Messi who offers victory (90th + 5) in the dying seconds.
This hair-raising 4-3 has a good look as a reference match for a team that has been looking for itself since the World Cup.
The fear of an absence of several weeks for Neymar
But the very bad news of this crazy afternoon at the Parc des Princes remains the new Neymar injury. The fear is now that he will be absent for several weeks and that he will miss the return match against Bayern on March 8, where he will have to recover from the defeat of the first leg (1-0). His right ankle badly turned while arguing for a ball with Benjamin André. The Brazilian came out on a stretcher, in tears (51st).
It is all the more infuriating that Neymar, who has not been in good shape in recent weeks, had sent positive signals, scoring 2-0 (17th) and getting involved in the work of the first defensive curtain. “Ney” has already missed 1/8th C1 matches in 2018 (Real Madrid), 2019 (Manchester United) and 2021 (FC Barcelona). In the first two cases, Paris had been eliminated. Fortunately, Mbappé is returning to great shape, after missing two weeks, one less than expected, for a thigh tear.
Lionel Messi’s fatal free kick
The Bondy star had “eaten well and slept well” before the match, this was felt on his first goal, a combination of finesse and strength, with a small bridge over Tiago Djalo and a water hammer to then pass between the side and Bafodé Diakité, both slammed like saloon doors. At the very end of the match, he snatched the equalizer, scoring his 198th goal for PSG, just two lengths from Edinson Cavani’s record (200 goals).
Lionel Messi, if he shaved his beard, has not changed much. We didn’t see him much, but he got and above all converted the free kick which is worth the three points. The genie struck only once, and that was enough.
PSG regains the margin on OM before the Classic
Paris has all the same launched the series which should lead him to Munich. In a week he plays his second February Classic in Marseille, after being eliminated in the Coupe de France (2-1). But PSG regained the margin on OM (2nd), with an eight-point lead while waiting for the dolphin’s match in Toulouse, Sunday evening (8:45 p.m.). Not everything is reassuring either, the defense was feverish, conceding three goals, an uncrossed header from Bafodé Diakité (21st), a penalty from Jonathan David (58th sp), severe, for a small push from Marco Verratti , and an unstoppable strike from Jonathan Bamba (69th).
PSG also lost a defender with the injury of Nuno Mendes, involuntarily touched by Jonathan Bamba, and replaced by Juan Bernat (32nd). The result is hard for the Northerners, who had already conceded a terrible 7-1 in the first leg, but they cracked under the final rush of Mbappé and Messi.