Kylian Mbappé saw a penalty saved and then limped off in the first half while Lionel Messi helped orchestrate a 3-1 win for Paris Saint-Germain at Montpellier to leave the Ligue 1 Uber Eats leaders five points clear at the top of the table.
THE MATCH
When Christopher Jullien ripped Sergio Ramos’ shirt during their struggle for a Messi free-kick, Mbappé, who had scored nine goals in his previous 11 league appearances against Montpellier, had the perfect opportunity to surpass that total with just six minutes remaining.
He had missed a penalty at 0-0 when PSG defeated Montpellier 5-2 earlier in the season, and he witnessed Benjamin Lecomte, who had also saved a penalty in the hosts’ 2-0 victory over Auxerre the previous weekend, stop his first effort from 12 yards only for VAR to order a retake for the goalkeeper moving early. The PSG forward sidefooted the ball over the crossbar after Lecomte forced Mbappé’s second penalty kick onto a post.
The situation worsened when Mbappé hobbled off (20′) after a collision with Léo Leroy, the son of former PSG player Jérôme, and was swiftly followed by Sergio Ramos (30′) after an altercation with Kiki Kouyaté, a Montpellier rookie.
Messi’s goal, which would have put the visitors ahead by two points at the start of the second half but was disallowed by VAR for offside (35′), capped a frustrating first half for the visitors, who had won just two of their five games since the season’s start and had seen Marseille pull within two points of them with a 2-0 win over Nantes earlier in the evening.
In the second half, PSG became substantially more aggressive, and Achraf Hakimi’s impact grew significantly. Hugo Ekitike, who replaced Mbappé, headed the ball into the path of Fabian Ruiz, who prodded home his first PSG goal (55′). The Moroccan international had a goal disallowed for offside in the build-up — a fantastic long-range strike (52′) — but was at the centre of the eagerly anticipated opening goal.
Following a beautiful through ball from Messi to Ekitike, the youthful striker rattled the post (62′). Ruiz then did the same for Messi, who took a touch with his right before turning the ball beyond Lecomte with his preferred left (72′) to double the hosts’ lead.
Arnaud Nordin cut PSG’s lead to one with a deftly timed volley from the edge of the box (89′), after Messi curled a shot just wide (84′) and watched Lecomte save another attempt (86′).
The home crowd thought there may be a comeback, but Warren Zare-Emery, who had come in for Vitinha at the 70-minute mark, put an end to it by becoming PSG’s youngest ever scorer at 16 years and 330 days in extra time (90+2′).
THE PLAYER: Lionel Messi
Due to an injury, Neymar was not present for kickoff, and Mbappé was put on the sidelines right away, but Messi still managed to work well with those around him. He would have scored more goals on a different night and with Lecomte in worse shape, and some of his touches were wonderful.
After Nice won in northern France thanks to a goal from Gatan Laborde in the second half, Lens’ ten-game winning streak at the Stade Félix Bollaert-Delelis came to an end, and they completed the night in third position, a point behind Marseille. Amine Gouiri, a former Nice player, scored twice as Rennes defeated Strasbourg 3-0 to keep pace with fourth-placed Monaco, who were given a scare by Auxerre in their 3-2 home victory. Breel Embolo scored the game-winning goal eight minutes from time to put Philippe Clement’s team four points off the podium. Lyon’s problems persisted as they were held to a scoreless stalemate by Brest at home.
