PARIS:
Lionel Messi scored with a 95th-minute free kick to give Paris Saint-Germain a 4-3 win over Lille in an extraordinary Ligue 1 game on Sunday. Kylian Mbappe scored twice but Neymar was taken off on a stretcher due to an ankle injury.
Messi’s late winner came after PSG squandered a two-goal deficit to fall behind 3-2, with Mbappe grabbing a late goal before the Argentine’s stunning strike.
The result ends a run of three straight defeats for PSG and ensures they end the weekend as they started, five points clear of second-placed Marseille, who won 3-2 at Toulouse and face the the Parisians are next.
“We came. It was not a great performance,” said Mbappe in the Amazon Prime broadcast.
“We make a lot of mistakes and lose focus a lot of times and against a good side you pay dearly for that, but we showed that even when we are not at our best we are It’s not good and it’s not good to say that we are a different team with different players and we can always find a way.”
The immediate concern for PSG was the injury to Neymar, who appeared to be in tears as he was helped to a stretcher early in the second half after turning his right ankle.
PSG The test later confirmed that there was no damage, but said that more research on the damage to the ligaments is needed in the coming days, and raising fears the Brazilian could miss the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie with Bayern Munich. on March 8.
“I hope ‘Ney’ will be back soon because he is an important player for us,” added Mbappe, while PSG also saw Nuno Mendes sidelined with an ankle problem.
Christophe Galtier’s team tried to come back from 1-0 at home to Bayern in the first leg of that European tie, and they went ahead in the opening against Lille through Mbappe – who made his first start after returning from a recent injury.
Neymar made it 2-0 early against PSG who won 7-1 in their last meeting in August, but Bafode Diakite pulled one back for Lille midway through the first half.
Neymar’s side took the lead within five minutes of the second half, and Lille took the lead when Jonathan David converted a penalty for his 17th goal of the season after finished Marco Verratti bad in the box.
Jonathan Bamba made it 3-2 with a fine finish and the hosts looked poised for a fourth before Mbappe converted from Juan Bernat’s assist with three minutes remaining. .
It was his 27th goal of the season in all competitions, but it didn’t end the story when Messi won a free kick after being fouled outside the area by Benjamin Andre.
The World Cup winner stepped up to send the dead ball into the net off the post to end a thrilling game.
Marseille have now won nine and won one of their 11 league games since being kicked out of the Champions League at the start of November, when they came from behind to beat Toulouse.
Dutchman Thijs Dallinga put Toulouse in mid-table early on, but Marseille bounced back in the second half at Le Stadium.
Chancel Mbemba equalized with Cengiz Under to put Marseille ahead before Nuno Tavares scored his sixth goal of the season on loan from Arsenal, with Ado Onaiwu pulling one back for the hosts.
Monaco followed up their 3-1 win at PSG last weekend by winning 2-1 at Brest to sit two behind Marseille in third.
Aleksandr Golovin and Myron Boadu scored for the hosts, with Jeremy Le Douaron pulling one back.
Lens fourth place won 3-1 against Nantes, but Rennes moved above Lille to fifth by beating Clermont 2-0, PSG forward Arnaud Kalimuendo scored both of their goals.
There were also wins for Lorient and Montpellier, but Strasbourg moved out of the relegation zone on Saturday by beating bottom side Angers 2-1 in the debut of new coach Frederic Antonetti.
Fellow strugglers Auxerre beat Lyon 2-1 on Friday, while Nice and Reims drew 0-0.
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