Paris Saint-Germain made a big embarrassment on Saturday night. The French star ensemble with Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar just in the base, went down 3-1 at Nantes. Following Messi, who missed a penalty against Real Madrid on Tuesday, this time Neymar failed from eleven meters.
Sports editors
Except for the super trio in the front, trainer Mauricio Pochettino also once again had a base place for Georginio Wijnaldum. However, the Orange international was not very happy. He caused a penalty just before half-time after he blocked a header from Jean-Charles Castelletto with his arm and the VAR proved unrelenting.
The penalty used by Ludovic Blas then brought Nantes to 3-0. An unprecedented lead for the midfielder, who had already won the crowd in Stade de la Beaujoire thanks to goals from Randal Kolo Muani and Quentin Merlin.
PSG seemed to be able to repair the damage when it came to 3-1 immediately after halftime by Neymer, who rounded off nicely after a wonderful assist from Messi. It was his eighth of the season, but the Argentinian again failed to score in Ligue 1 (two goals in fifteen matches). Not much later Nantes ran into further problems when Dennis Appiah made a foul in his own box on Mbappe in the 58th minute. But the awarded penalty kick was shot so weakly by Neymar that goalkeeper Alban Lafont was able to grab the ball.
Wijnaldum was the first to be taken to the side after more than an hour. With Julian Draxler who came in for him and later also Nuno Mendes, Angel di Maria, Achraf Hakimi and Mauro Icardi as fresh stars in the line, Pochettino played just about all his trump cards. But despite an unavoidable lead from the front and opportunities for Mbappe, Draxler and Messi, Nantes held on to character.
The defeat does not have many consequences for PSG, however. The star team has a 13-point lead in Ligue 1 over closest attacker Olympique Marseille, which can catch up by three points against Clermont Foot on Sunday.
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