Paris Saint-Germain narrowly avoided losing points in the Ligue 1 on Sunday afternoon. For a long time, the duel with Saint-Étienne seemed to end in a draw, until Ángel Di María and Marquinhos struck in the final phase: 1-3. Sergio Ramos had his first place at PSG, making his debut for the French superpower. Neymar had to stop the fight in the final phase with an apparently serious injury to his ankle. The attacker was carried off the field crying on a stretcher. Mauricio Pochettino’s team proudly leads the way with 40 points from 15 matches and has 14 points more than pursuer OGC Nice.
Pochettino visited Saint-Etienne with a considerably thinned out selection and was unable to have Georginio Wijnaldum, among others. Marco Verratti and Ander Herrera were also missing from the match selection. Xavi Simons was therefore with the team, but remained on the bench for the entire game. PSG thought they would take the lead early in the game, when Neymar came one on one with goalkeeper Etienne Green. The winger finished in a controlled manner, but saw his goal disallowed on the advice of the video referee for offside.
???????.. Neymar! ?? The Brazilian ends up very unhappy and is carried off the field with an apparently serious ankle injury ??#ZiggoSport #Ligue1 #ASSEPSG pic.twitter.com/E3nbTl6aTd
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Nov 28, 2021
The visitors dominated in the initial phase and had another good opportunity after fifteen minutes of play, but this time Green did have a reaction to a bet by Kylian Mbappé. The first time the home team became dangerous, it was immediately hit. The winger was in the right place for the rebound and beat Gianluigi Donnarumma: 1-0. On the stroke of half-time, the home team had to continue with one man less, when Timothée Kolodziejczak was able to push in after a foul on Mbappé. Two minutes later the score was tied. Marquinhos was in the right place to head a free kick from Lionel Messi behind Green: 1-1. Messi would provide the assist for all three PSG goals.
In the second half the game picture hardly changed and it was PSG that struck the clock. Mbappé first failed from a rebound, but saw how Di María was accurate fifteen minutes before the end. The Argentinian scored on a pass from Messi: 1-2. Shortly before that, Messi himself had lost a huge opportunity when he received a rebound from Neymar and shot wide. The final score was determined by Marquinhos. Once again, Messi was the principal, after which the center defender signed for his second of the afternoon with a header. Big blemish was the failure of Neymar. The attacker was wrong in the final phase and completely doubled with his ankle, after which he had to be carried off the field by stretcher.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paris Saint Germain | 15 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 20 | 40 |
| 2 | OGC Nice | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 26 |
| 3 | Stade Rennes | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 25 |
| 4 | RC Lens | 15 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 25 |
| 5 | Olympique Marseille | 13 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 23 |
| 6 | Angers | 15 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 22 |
| 7 | Strasbourg | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 19 |
| 8 | AS Monaco | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 19 |
| 9 | Montpellier | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 19 |
| 10 | Olympique Lyon | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 19 |
| 11 | Nantes | 15 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 19 |
| 12 | Lille OSC | 15 | 4 | 6 | 5 | -3 | 18 |
| 13 | Stade Brest | 14 | 3 | 6 | 5 | -1 | 15 |
| 14 | lorient | 14 | 3 | 6 | 5 | -8 | 15 |
| 15 | Reims | 14 | 2 | 7 | 5 | -3 | 13 |
| 16 | Girondins de Bordeaux | 14 | 2 | 7 | 5 | -9 | 13 |
| 17 | Troyes AC | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -9 | 13 |
| 18 | Clermont | 14 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -11 | 13 |
| 19 | Metz | 15 | 2 | 6 | 7 | -13 | 12 |
| 20 | Saint Etienne | 15 | 2 | 6 | 7 | -14 | 12 |