Saturday, December 4, 2021 at 10:59 PM• Jordi Tomasowa • Last update: 23:02

Paris Saint-Germain got through the eye of the needle in the Ligue 1 against RC Lens on Saturday evening thanks to Georginio Wijnaldum. The Dutch midfielder came in as a substitute and headed the 1-1 against the ropes in injury time.

In a lackluster opening phase, both teams failed to create opportunities that were played out. Paris Saint-Germain, with Wijnaldum and Kylian Mbappe on the bench, mainly hoped for a revival of one of its star players. That finally came with 17 minutes on the clock, when Marco Verratti captured the ball in midfield and sent Lionel Messi away. Goalkeeper Jean-Louis Leca was transfixed by the Argentinian’s placed shot, which hit the post.

The field game of the star ensemble of coach Mauricio Pochettino looked syrupy and Lens seemed to benefit from this. Jonathan Clauss first tested Keylor Navas from a free kick and in a subsequent attack the goalkeeper had to act again on a shot by Arnaud Kalimuendo. PSG could thank Navas in this phase for keeping the team going. The best chance came not much later for Abdoulaye Doucouré, who forced the Costa Rican goalkeeper to make another save with a volley from the edge of the box.

After the rain of chances from Lens, the visitors finally woke up. Mauro Icardi encountered Reca’s fists from a difficult angle, after which Ángel Di María was closest in injury time of the first half. The Argentinian already had the punch before typing in after a custom cross from Achraf Hakimi, but Reca again made a good save. While both teams failed to score in an exciting first half, this was the case after the break. Facundo Medina captured the ball from Messi, gave it to Fofana, who saw Navas blunder on his long shot: 1-0.

PSG went chasing the equaliser, but it was Lens who were just close to 2-0 when David Costa was cleared and shot the post from a promising position. Even with substitute Wijnaldum and Mbappé inside the lines, the visitors did not claim a point for a long time, but in injury time Pochettino’s team crawled through the eye of the needle thanks to the said duo. The Frenchman hurled the ball into the sixteen-meter area, after which Wijnaldum headed the ball against the ropes: 1-1.

No. Team m W G V +/- Pnt
1 Paris Saint Germain 17 13 3 1 20 42
2 Olympique Marseille 16 8 5 3 9 29
3 Stade Rennes 16 8 4 4 13 28
4 OGC Nice 16 8 4 4 13 27
5 RC Lens 17 7 6 4 7 27
6 Stade Brest 17 6 6 5 2 24
7 Lille OSC 17 6 6 5 -1 24
8 Strasbourg 16 6 5 5 9 23
9 AS Monaco 16 6 5 5 3 23
10 Angers 16 5 7 4 2 22
11 Montpellier 16 6 4 6 1 22
12 Olympique Lyon 15 6 4 5 0 22
13 Nantes 16 5 4 7 -1 19
14 Reims 16 4 7 5 -1 19
15 Troyes AC 17 4 4 9 -9 16
16 lorient 16 3 6 7 -12 15
17 Clermont 16 3 5 8 -12 14
18 Girondins de Bordeaux 16 2 7 7 -13 13
19 Metz 16 2 6 8 -15 12
20 Saint Etienne 16 2 6 8 -15 12