Mbappe on bench again as PSG held
PARIS: Ligue 1 leaders Paris St Germain were held to a 2-2 home draw by Reims on Sunday after PSG boss Luis Enrique benched top scorer Kylian Mbappe, who played only the last 20 minutes.
PSG extended their unbeaten run in Ligue 1 to 20 games but it was a third straight draw for the defending champions after Reims impressed despite an own goal.
With both sides picking up a point, PSG extended their lead over second-placed Brest to 10 points while Reims are ninth with 35.
“I can only wish Kylian Mbappe the best, the best things for the future,” a smiling Luis Enrique said in a post-match interview as the manager continued to dodge questions about the club’s all-time top scorer.
Mbappe has regularly played 90 minutes this season but has yet to play a full match for PSG since he informed the club last month that he would leave them as a free agent at the end of this season.
“He is a very good player but even more a good person, and I wish him only the best of the best,” added Luis Enrique.
Reims shocked the leaders by taking the lead in the seventh minute to silence the fans at the Parc des Princes after an error from PSG’s Achraf Hakimi.
The Morocco international dithered on the ball in the box before Oumar Diakite pinched it from the full back near the goal line and teed up Marshall Munetsi for a simple tap-in.
But PSG took little time to get the home crowd going again thanks to an own goal when a corner kick delivery into the box went in off defender Yunis Abdelhamid.
Two minutes later, Goncalo Ramos gave PSG the lead when Lee Kang-in’s floated ball into the box was not cleared and it fell kindly to the Portuguese forward, who fired home to make it 2-1.
However, Reims made it 2-2 when Diakite took advantage of PSG’s high line and beat the offside trap to latch on to Emmanuel Agbadou’s superb pass to guide his shot past Keylor Navas in goal.
Enrique brought on both Mbappe — who has scored 21 league goals this season — and Ousmane Dembele — who tops the assists charts in the league with seven — in the 73rd minute as PSG looked for a winner.
But Mbappe’s late introduction made no difference to the scoreline as Reims held on for a valuable point.
Third-placed AS Monaco moved to within a point of Brest with a 1-0 win at Strasbourg, Eliesse Ben Seghir scoring the only goal.
Lille reclaimed a place in the top four on goal difference from Lens after Jonathan David scored two late goals to earn them a 2-2 draw with Stade Rennais.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice, taking his overall tally for the campaign to 23 including eight in his last five games, as Olympique de Marseille beat Nantes 2-0 to move a point outside the European places.
Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2024
