April 18, (THEWILL) – With a 2-1 victory over Marseille in Le Classique, Paris Saint-Germain pulled within four points of the Ligue 1 title.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side led deservedly at half-time before putting up a spirited second-half performance to take the points and the victory over the second-placed side.
With ten minutes on the clock, the hosts seized the lead with their first chance of the game. Neymar sneaked in behind Valentin Rongier and hoisted the ball over the hapless Pau Lopez and into the net after Marco Verratti brilliantly picked out his run.
It could have been two when Kylian Mbappe was passed through to a one-on-one with Lopez by Danilo Pereira, but the lethal Frenchman somehow squandered his chance, dragging his shot wide of the Spaniard’s goal.
Marseille equalised from a corner after Gianluigi Donnarumma’s blunder, when he flapped at Dimitri Payet’s cross, allowing Duje Caleta-Car to sweep home.
As PSG looked for a second goal, a ferocious Neymar free-kick stung Lopez’s fingers before a wayward header from Mbappe drifted wide of the post.
The inventiveness of Neymar and Mbappe continued to cut Marseille open, but Lionel Messi was the next to score. His strike, however, was disallowed because the assister, Nuno Mendes, was offside during the build-up.
Lopez denied Neymar twice in quick succession from close range, but the offside flag was raised both times, and PSG were awarded a penalty on the stroke of half-time after a VAR probe for an incident in which there were two handball claims, with Rongier and Gerson the culpable parties.
In the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time, Mbappe stepped up and made no mistake from the penalty spot, firmly stroking into the left-hand corner to restore the advantage.
Messi ripped open the Marseille defence to pick out Mbappe in the second half, but the Frenchman was uncharacteristically unable to get a shot off.
PSG had a goal ruled out for offside again, but the hosts were given a reprieve when William Saliba’s equaliser from a Dimitri Payet free-kick was written off by VAR for a similar infraction.
PSG survived six minutes of stoppage time to secure a critical victory as their bid to reclaim the French crown nears completion.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
