Thirteen days before the shock in the Champions League against Bayern Munich, PSG returned to success in Ligue 1 in Montpellier (3-1), but trembled with the exit on injury of Kylian Mbappé, Wednesday February 1, during the 21st day.
Stuck in a terrible negative spiral as the arrival of the Bavarians looms at the Parc des Princes in the round of 16 first leg of C1, the Parisians can rejoice to leave La Mosson with a victory after two failures in a row in the league. But the loss of their main offensive asset casts a chill over the perspective of this great meeting. Everything went wrong for Mbappé, who started his match by missing two penalties in quick succession, the referee having decided to withdraw the first, already stopped by Benjamin Lecomte. The worst was yet to come: the 2018 world champion, hit behind the left thigh, had to give up his place after 20 minutes, enough to fuel doubt around the Parisian team before the reception of Bayern.
However, coach Christophe Galtier wanted to be reassuring at the end of the game. "It's a contusion or hematoma, we don't know yet." There's not too much concern," he said. "On one of the duels, Kylian took a hit behind the knee and on the muscle," continued Galtier.
To make matters worse, PSG, already deprived in central defense of Presnel Kimpembe and Nordi Mukiele, will have to deal with the injury of Sergio Ramos, hit in the left adductor. One more tile that comes just after the failed transfer of Milan Skriniar, the Slovak rear of Inter Milan, during the winter transfer window.
The only satisfaction for the troops of Christophe Galtier, who prevailed on goals from Fabian Ruiz, Lionel Messi and Warren Zaire-Emery, is to have contained OM, new runner-up after their success in Nantes (2-0 ) and still maintained at five points. The Marseillais did not create huge chances at La Beaujoire but were able to take advantage of a gross defensive error from Nantes, opening the scoring after the break on an own goal from the unfortunate Joao Victor. It was then Azzedine Ounahi, one of the Moroccan heroes of the 2022 World Cup, who stood out by doubling the bet at the end of the match for his big debut in the colors of Olympians.
OM took advantage of the failure of Lens, defeated at Bollaert by Nice (1-0) and now third. The Sang et Or mark time with this second game without a win while the Aiglons have been reinvigorated since the arrival at the controls of Didier Digard and are in 8th position after a sluggish first part of the season under the orders of Lucien Favre. Monaco (4ᵉ), winner of Auxerre (3-2), and Rennes (5ᵉ), which easily disposed of Strasbourg thanks to a double from Amine Gouiri (3-0), hold the other two European places. The reunion with the rebellious public of Groupama Stadium, however, did not go as desired for the Lyonnais, unable to dominate Brest (0-0).
Reims (11ᵉ) continues for its part to make a strong impression. Three days after bringing back a draw from Paris at the last second (1-1), the Champenois stretched their beautiful series of invincibility to 13 games against Lorient (4-2), featherless in attack in the winter transfer window with the departures of striker Terem Moffi (Nice) and winger Dango Ouattara (Bournemouth). Will Still's men were able to count on the insolent success of Folarin Balogun, author of a hat-trick and now at the top of the scoring charts with 14 achievements, one unit ahead of Kylian Mbappé. Finally, in a duel of poorly ranked, the red lantern Angers, reduced to 10 in the second half, broke a sad record by being the first Ligue 1 club to concede 13 consecutive defeats against Ajaccio (2-1).
