Neymar set up Angel Di Maria to take the winner in the 88th minute as Paris Saint-Germain once again came from behind, this time to beat defending French champions Lille 2-1 on Friday. With Kylian Mbappe missing and Lionel Messi taking off at half-time, PSG needed to equalize captain Marquinhos in the 74th minute when Jonathan David took the first-half lead at the Parc des Princes. Di Maria had set up the equalizer and then arrived to fire low into the net from Neymar’s take-off and scored a win to give PSG their lead at the top of Ligue 1 before second-placed Lens 10. Mass increase of marks was allowed. Rest of the weekend games.
Yet it was just another in a long line of unconvinced performances from Mauricio Pochettino’s team and it was left to the coach again to answer questions.
It was the third time in four home league games that PSG had come from behind to score the winning goal of late, and here it came against a Lille side who are in the middle of the table after a poor start to their title defence.
Top scorer Mbappe’s absence due to illness didn’t help, neither did injured playwright Marco Verratti.
“It is not by chance that he did the way the team reacted. It shows the mindset and his character,” Pochettino insisted.
“We want to win in the best possible way and with the biggest margin. The truth is that it is often a struggle but it is not by chance that we have won 10 out of 12 league matches.”
Messi’s target dry
Messi was relegated on hiatus and is still without a goal after five appearances in Ligue 1. This record is certainly not what no one expected him to do when he arrived in August.
Maybe he’ll eventually start scoring for fun in France, but he’ll still go into November and try to crack his duck.
To be honest, Messi is making an impact in the Champions League with three goals in three matches in Europe.
His premature replacement here was a precautionary measure ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash with RB Leipzig in Germany – the Argentine was battling a minor injury during the week.
“We think he will be available for the match against Leipzig,” Pochettino told broadcaster Amazon Prime.
Neymar’s form has also been a concern and Brazil still have only one goal this season and that is from a penalty.
Here the world’s most expensive player cut the sometimes disappointed man and kept his word in the late booking, but not before he teased Di Maria for the winner.
Earlier, Lillee were rewarded for their fine performance in the first half with an opening goal just after half an hour.
Burak Yilmaz, who had come close to scoring in the first minute, reached the byline and cut back for Canadian striker David to convert the ball from a pass into the net.
Yilmaz was disallowed by Gianluigi Donnarumma at the start of the second half, but PSG insisted on looking for an equalizer and eventually found it as Di Maria’s chipped ball from the byline was swung by Marquinhos.
Mauro Icardi, who had replaced Messi at the break, missed a big chance to win it for the home team before Di Maria was hit.
Second-placed Lens is in action for Lyon on Saturday.
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