PSG scrape draw against Rennes with last-gasp Ramos penalty
On Sunday, Paris-Saint Germain, the top team in Ligue 1, managed to secure a draw against Rennes, a team that has given them trouble in the past. Goncalo Ramos scored a crucial penalty in the very last moment of the game, saving PSG from defeat.
Published on: February 25th, 2024 at 10:59 pm Updated on: February 26th, 2024 at 2:26 am
Brest currently hold the second position, lagging 11 points behind the leader, as they emerged victorious against Strasbourg with a scoreline of 3-0 on Saturday.
On Sunday, Monaco secured a late 3-2 victory against Lens thanks to a goal from Japanese striker Takumi Minamino in added time. This win propelled Monaco up to the third-place position, now only two points behind the leaders.
Nice drew with the last-placed team Clermont in a 0-0 match, while playing at their home ground. Despite this draw, Nice stands at fourth position, a point behind. Lille, on the other hand, suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Toulouse and have now dropped to the fifth position.
Towards the end of the match, Marseille made a comeback after being behind in the score and won the game 4-1 against Montpellier, marking their first victory in the league this year.
On Thursday, Rennes defeated AC Milan in the Europa League. To prepare for future games, Benjamin Bourigeaud, who had previously scored three goals against AC Milan, and Martin Terrier were given a break and did not play.
They managed to get ahead after Amine Gouiri kicked the ball into the upper corner at the 39th minute.
PSG substituted their main goal scorer Kylian Mbappe, who has announced his intention of departing at the conclusion of the season, just 60 minutes into the game.
Coach Luis Enrique commented that the team has to adapt to playing without Kylian Mbappe. He also made the decision to substitute Ousmane Dembele and Bradley Barcola.
Enrique conveyed a message that applies to everyone, expressing his strict expectations for the players. He firmly stated his unwillingness to tolerate any player who fails to perform on the field, emphasizing the importance of taking full advantage of being in the starting lineup. He encouraged players to motivate themselves with the thought of maximizing their potential during the game.
During added time, as the home team were desperately trying to score an equalising goal, Ramos, who had come in for Mbappe, was cautioned for feigning a foul in an effort to secure a penalty. Shortly after, he took a dive over goalkeeper Steve Mandanda.
The result of a video review played out well for the Portuguese forward this time around. He successfully scored the penalty kick, which saved PSG's two impressive unbeaten records. Their first unbeaten run was for 18 games in Ligue 1, started in September. Their second unbeaten run was for 19 games in all competitions, began in October.
PSG managed to avoid a home defeat against Rennes for the second year in a row, thanks to their triumph. Rennes have emerged victorious against PSG on seven occasions post the Qatar-based acquisition of the club in 2011, making them the only French team with more wins over PSG during this span.
Julien Stephan, coach of Rennes, expressed his disappointment with the outcome and stated that penalties are often given to well-known teams or in specific arenas.
In Lens, Folarin Balogun, an international player from the United States, managed to score a goal for the team Monaco only after 19 minutes of play. Later, on the half-hour mark, Minamino scored a second goal, thereby doubling the lead.
The Lens team responded by scoring a goal through Elye Wahi, and Wesley Said managed to tie the game with a goal in the 77th minute.
The team that was defeated at Freiburg during the Europa League last Thursday, deteriorated during the final 10 minutes.
'Wow, what a game!'
Balogun missed a penalty kick during the 83rd minute, however, Minamino managed to score a goal during stoppage time with a precise shot.
"Such an amazing game!" exclaimed Adi Hutter, the coach of Monaco.
I'm optimistic that this game will boost our morale for our next match against Paris Saint-Germain.
During a football match in Nice, the goalkeeper for the home team, Marcin Bulka, dove to his left just before the end of the first half to prevent Shamar Nicholson from scoring a penalty. This was the fourth time Bulka has successfully stopped a penalty out of six that he's faced in all of the competitions he's played in this season.
It's pleasant for Nice to have achieved only one victory out of their previous six matches.
According to Francesco Farioli, the coach of Nice, the team's performance was not impressive; however, he stated that it was not a catastrophic outcome.
Lille's bad performance on the road continued as they lost to Toulouse after having a lead at half-time. This loss broke Toulouse's streak of not winning at home.
In the last moments of the game, Hakon Haraldsson scored a goal for Lille, resulting in them taking the lead.
Toulouse, who have only managed to win at home once since October 1st, which was against Liverpool in the Europa League, scored three goals in a quick succession of just 17 minutes.
49 minutes into the match, Christian Mawissa scored a goal after a corner.
Yann Gboho managed to replace and earn a penalty after eight minutes. Following his substitution, Vincent Sierro successfully converted the penalty during the second half.
In the 66th minute, Gboho made an assist to Thijs Dallinga who scored the third goal. Lille has been struggling to win in Ligue 1 while playing away since November 26.
Marseille had been struggling in the league since December without any victory until a change in management occurred. Jean-Louis Gasset came in as the new coach replacing Gennaro Gattuso in the middle of the week, and since then, the team has been on the rise.
Gasset began as the leader of the team with a winning moment at the Europa League, which happened last Thursday. On the other hand, the match against Montpellier last Sunday did not look good for Marseille at first, as they allowed a goal after only four minutes. Despite this, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang stepped up and scored twice to dominate the game over the visitors, leading his team to an amazing triumph.
