ST ETIENNE (France): Lionel Messi set up all three goals as Paris St Germain stretched their Ligue 1 lead to 14 points with a 3-1 comeback win at 10-man St Etienne as Neymar sustained a possible ankle injury and was taken off on a stretcher on Sunday.
PSG made the most of Timothee Kolodziejczak’s red card on the stroke of halftime as Messi fed Marquinhos for two headed goals and Angel Di Maria struck to seal a clinical turnaround after Les Verts had opened the scoring through Denis Bouanga.
The result put the capital side on 40 points from 15 games, with third-placed Rennes having a chance to leapfrog Nice into second when they travel to Lorient later on Sunday.
St Etienne, who mounted on a decent challenge despite being a man down as snow fell on the Geoffroy Guichard stadium, are now bottom of the standings with 12 points.
The game marked Sergio Ramos’s debut for PSG, almost five months after joining from Real Madrid as a free agent, and the Spaniard started in central defence alongside Marquinhos.
St Etienne pressed high and PSG looked to hit them on the break, with Neymar finding the back of the net early on only for the Brazilian’s goal to be ruled out for offside.
The hosts went ahead after 24 minutes when Kolodziejczak, set up by a superb Wahbi Khazri through pass, shot straight at goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma but Banga followed up and fired home from point-blank range.
The momentum, however, swung towards PSG in a couple of minutes on the stroke of halftime.
Kolodziejczak was harshly shown a straight red card for bringing down Kylian Mbappe as the France striker charged towards goal and Marquinhos headed home Messi’s perfectly-executed free kick.
Messi was at it again 11 minutes from time, whipping a fine pass behind the back of the defence for Di Maria, who finished with a curled effort into the far corner of the net.
Marquinhos headed home again from Messi’s cross in the last minute, three minutes after Neymar was carried off after twisting his ankle.
PSG made the most of Timothee Kolodziejczak’s red card on the stroke of halftime as Messi fed Marquinhos for two headed goals and Angel Di Maria struck to seal a clinical turnaround after Les Verts had opened the scoring through Denis Bouanga.
The result put the capital side on 40 points from 15 games, with third-placed Rennes having a chance to leapfrog Nice into second when they travel to Lorient later on Sunday.
St Etienne, who mounted on a decent challenge despite being a man down as snow fell on the Geoffroy Guichard stadium, are now bottom of the standings with 12 points.
The game marked Sergio Ramos’s debut for PSG, almost five months after joining from Real Madrid as a free agent, and the Spaniard started in central defence alongside Marquinhos.
St Etienne pressed high and PSG looked to hit them on the break, with Neymar finding the back of the net early on only for the Brazilian’s goal to be ruled out for offside.
The hosts went ahead after 24 minutes when Kolodziejczak, set up by a superb Wahbi Khazri through pass, shot straight at goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma but Banga followed up and fired home from point-blank range.
The momentum, however, swung towards PSG in a couple of minutes on the stroke of halftime.
Kolodziejczak was harshly shown a straight red card for bringing down Kylian Mbappe as the France striker charged towards goal and Marquinhos headed home Messi’s perfectly-executed free kick.
Messi was at it again 11 minutes from time, whipping a fine pass behind the back of the defence for Di Maria, who finished with a curled effort into the far corner of the net.
Marquinhos headed home again from Messi’s cross in the last minute, three minutes after Neymar was carried off after twisting his ankle.
Stay connected with us on social media platform for instant update click here to join our Twitter, & Facebook
We are now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@TechiUpdate) and stay updated with the latest Technology headlines.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsAzi is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
