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PARIS (AP) – Lionel Messi came to the rescue of Paris Saint-Germain.
The French league leaders blew two goals and trailed with four minutes remaining, but Messi and Kylian Mbappé overturned another debacle to win 4-3 in Lille on Sunday.
With PSG eyeing their fourth win in all competitions, Mbappé scored the equalizer after 86 minutes at the Parc des Princes. Then, in the discounts, Messi caused the foul for the free kick and sent the ball deep with a shot that hit the post first. Mbappé ran to hug the Argentine star.
Messi’s score prevented PSG from going into crisis. The long-suffering win followed a 1-0 midweek home loss to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, a 3-1 loss to Monaco in the local league and another goal against bitter rivals Marseille in the French Cup.
“I can only say it’s a huge relief,” said PSG coach Christophe Galtier.
PSG are five points clear at the top of the league. Immediately escorted Marseille will not lose their footing after a 3-2 victory in Toulouse to leave the table attending the French classic at Velodrome Stade next week.
After playing just the last half against Bayern after recovering from a muscle injury, Mbappé returned to the starting eleven. His presence cured the messes in PSG’s defence.
The hosts were leading 2-0 after 17 minutes after goals from Mbappé and Neymar. but they did not know how to sustain the difference by conceding three goals, the work of Bafode Diakite, Jonathan David and Jonathan Bamba.
The nerves in the PSG ranks were full from the start. Luis Campos, the sporting director of the Qatar-owned team, came down from the stands and finished the game on the bench to shout instructions to the players.
“We took it forward. It was not a good game”, said Mbappé. “We made a lot of mistakes… but we showed that we could find a solution even if we don’t reach our best level and the situation is not favorable.”
The bad news was the injury to Brazilian star Neymar. The other member of PSG’s attacking trident had to leave the game on the stretcher in the second half after spraining his right ankle.
In other results, goals from Aleksandr Golovin and Myron Boadu gave Monaco a 2-1 win at Brest while Lens beat Nantes 3-1.
Lorient beat Ajaccio 3-0; Rennes beat Clermont 2-0; and Montpellier beat Troyes 1-0 away from home.