Winner in extremis by four goals to three from an inspired Lille team, Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG) avoided sinking into crisis, but lost Neymar to injury. At the end of a match of great intensity, the Parisians won on Sunday February 19, thanks to a feat by Lionel Messi, author of an unstoppable free kick in stoppage time.
Their success also owes a lot to Kylian Mbappé, author of a new XXL performance at the Parc des Princes. In the first period, the native of Bondy scored his 14th goal of the season following a superb little bridge, alone against five Lille. Mbappé then doubled the lead in the 85th minute on a serve from Spaniard Juan Bernat.
Neymar's 24th injury
PSG's record is however tarnished by Neymar's new injury. If the Brazilian star showed a clear recovery in form in the first period, scoring a goal full of opportunism on a clever delivery from the Portuguese Vitinha, his ankle once again betrayed him on his return from the locker room. This is the Brazilian's 24th injury since his arrival in Paris in 2017. This is all the more unwelcome as it comes at a time when the player is being criticized for his lifestyle.
The Parisians absolutely had to win on Sunday so as not to sink into the crisis. Marseille, Monaco, Bayern Munich: the club suffered three defeats in a row before facing Lille. Since the takeover of the club by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) in 2011, PSG had never lost four times in a row. The pressure was therefore very strong on the pair made up of the coach, Christophe Galtier, and the sports director, Luis Campos, the same who had led LOSC to the crowning during the 2020-2021 season.
After this success, PSG are now eight points ahead of Marseille, who face Toulouse on Sunday evening. The Parisian club now has two league games ahead of it (Marseille and Nantes) to try to recover before attempting to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League against Bayern Munich on March 8 (0-1 defeat). 1 in the first leg).
