Messi rescues PSG, who lose Neymar due to injury

Leo Messi appeared in added time to rescue a PSG adrift and avoid the fourth consecutive defeat for the Parisian team.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
19 February 2023 Sunday 16:32
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Messi rescues PSG, who lose Neymar due to injury

Leo Messi appeared in added time to rescue a PSG adrift and avoid the fourth consecutive defeat for the Parisian team. Neymar's injury, who sprained his ankle in the second half, and Lille's comeback portended the worst, but Mbappé and Leo Messi managed to avoid greater evils.

The afternoon bordered on tragedy in the Parque de los Príncipes. After two consecutive defeats in the league, Monaco (3-1) and Marseille (2-1), and losing in the Champions League at home against Bayern (0-1), the Parisian team was bound to win. The match started well, with a great goal from Mbappé, who got rid of all the defenders who came out to cover him and almost from the ground invented an excellent finish that was impossible for the goalkeeper. Neymar joined the party and in 17 minutes PSG was already winning comfortably, although Diakité added excitement to the game with a goal before the break.

The second half had barely started when Neymar went to the ground after a challenge from Benjamin André. The Lille midfielder kicked the Brazilian in the calf, who sprained his right ankle in the fall. Visibly in pain and on a stretcher, Neymar could not continue and was replaced by Hugo Ekitike to the applause of his audience. Now, pending the results of the medical tests, he will have almost twenty days to recover ahead of the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Bayern Munich (March 3), the most important of the course for the Parisian outfit.

PSG received another blow shortly after losing Neymar. Verratti committed a penalty on Djaló for a grab inside the box and Jonathan David tied the game. Ten minutes later, Bamba finished off Lille's comeback and the Parc des Princes was losing patience. With the tension through the roof and the clock ticking down, the PSG players tried to row against the clock.

With everything lost, down 2-3 on the scoreboard after Jonathan Bamba's goal in the 69th minute, the PSG sports advisor, Luis Campos, went down from the box to the stands to gesticulate with disdain and bad taste against his team. . Involved in several disputes with some players in the last two weeks, he seemed to rub his hands before a more than likely dismissal of Galtier.

When everything seemed lost, two great ones appeared. Kylian Mbappé scored a double for his own personal account to tie the game with three minutes to go. PSG tirelessly pursued the goal they needed to win and in 1995 Leo Messi appeared to rescue the team and break the streak of three consecutive defeats.

Campos went from shouting and unedifying gestures to ecstasy with Messi's goal, who turned the tables on a free kick to end a three-game losing streak for his team. Campos, like a bar fan, jumped onto the pitch in the final stages of the clash and even allowed himself the luxury of giving orders. PSG remains at the top of Ligue 1 with 57 points and eight ahead of their immediate rival, Marseille, with their game tonight against Toulouse remaining.

Check here all the results and the Ligue1 table