PSG win, but at what cost ?Winners, losers & ratings as Mbappe nightmare overshadows victory over Montpellier

Paris Saint-Germain let the Ligue 1 championship battle to reopen by winning only one of their four league games since the World Cup when they travelled to Montpellier on Wednesday. And for 55 minutes, it appeared as though the French champs' situation would only get worse. While Neymar was completely benched because of physical exhaustion, Sergio Ramos and Kylian Mbappe both exited the game with injuries in the first half. Before being substituted, Mbappe did had time to go up and take a penalty, but both his first attempt and a second attempt were saved.In just 13 days, Bayern Munich will resume play in the Champions League in Paris, and supporters are increasingly anxious about the health of their star attacker and seasoned defender Ramos.In Mbappe's absence, Fabian Ruiz, a midfielder, came up to fill in admirably. The Spain international scored his first goal for the team with a close-range toe poke and then assisted Lionel Messi 15 minutes later on PSG's second goal.The Ligue 1 leaders were on edge when Montpellier scored a consolation goal in the 89th minute, but substitute Warren Zaire-Emery calmed them down with a third goal, becoming PSG's youngest-ever Ligue 1 goal scorer in the process.The 3-1 victory's winners and losers are broken down by GOAL.

The Winners:

Fabian Ruiz:The former Napoli player was always going to seem like an odd choice for PSG. Fabian doesn't mind running, but it didn't seem like he was the hard-working midfielder Christophe Galtier needed. And thus far, evidence has shown that the critics were correct. For the majority of his PSG career, Fabian has struggled, delivering lots of attractive passes but having little influence on the game. But on Wednesday, that changed. Fabian was allowed more opportunity to go forward since Mbappe was injured and Neymar was out, and he did so with ease, scoring PSG's first goal and setting up their second in an outstanding performance. He is obviously extremely talented, and it is unfortunate for him that he is not likely to get many opportunities to demonstrate how significant he is.When the well-known assailants return, he can be there.

Borussia Dortmund: In less than two weeks, Bayern will play PSG in the Champions League, and they must be secretly happy that the Ligue 1 leaders are having some injury issues so close to the match. Given that both Mbappe and Ramos' injuries are described as muscular in nature, it is difficult to determine how severe they are or how long they will be out. However, the fact that neither could continue to play indicates that both injuries may be more serious than merely a bump, which is fantastic news for Julian Nagelsmann's team.

Folarin Balogun: Balogun, an Arsenal loanee, passed Mbappe earlier on Wednesday in the Ligue 1 top scorer standings after scoring three goals against Lorient to bring his season total to 14. Even so, Mbappe had a fantastic opportunity to retake the lead when PSG was given a penalty after just seven minutes since he was only behind by one goal. It was surprising that he missed once, but when the spot-kick was ordered to be retaken, it seemed nearly unimaginable that he would miss twice. To top it all off, he then sent the second penalty's rebound over the crossbar before suffering an injury that cut short his night. Good news for Balogun, who continues to lead the lists for goals scored.

The Losers:

Kylian Mbappe:What a miserable evening. Ten terrible minutes saw Mbappe's misfortune play out. He first observed Benjamin Lecomte save a penalty. After a Montpellier defender encroached, he was instructed to retake the shot, but he missed it again before launching the rebound far into the air. Shortly later, the France international left the game with what seemed to be a hamstring injury, ending his time on the field. Mbappe left on his own, so it didn't seem to be a serious injury, but the impending Champions League knockout match makes Mbappe's forced exit a huge worry.

Sergio Ramos:Ramos had a terrible thirty minutes. The center-back left the game with an alleged adductor injury as he was just rounding into form. He had been successful up to that point, providing the PSG team with much-needed defensive steadiness while they struggled to find any kind of an attacking rhythm. If it is a minor injury, Ramos won't be out for long, but his absence will still hurt a club that already lacks depth at the back. After suffering an Achilles injury, Presnel Kimpembe is yet to resume full training, and Danilo Pereira is at best a subpar center-back. PSG allegedly declined to pay the substantial sum Inter demanded in January for Milan Skriniar; perhaps they ought to have.

Lens' title hopes:When Lens defeated PSG about a month ago, they entered the Ligue 1 championship race, and an implausible rise to the top place didn't seem all that unlikely. They had only lost once up to that point in the season, and it had been a convincing victory against PSG. But on Wednesday, a 1-0 loss to Nice delivered a devastating blow to their title chances. The fact that Marseille also triumphed, placing Lens in third place and six points behind PSG, only made matters worse. It's not impossible for Franck Haise's team to reenter the picture, but it does seem highly improbable.

Ratings for PSG: Defense

Gianluigi Donnarumma :For Montpellier's goal, helpless. had not much to do.

Achraf Hakimi (7/10):Screaming goal was scored, but it was disallowed because of an offside in the build-up. carefully performed his defensive task and frequently moved forward.

Marquinhos (6/10):An enjoyable night overall, with only one or two jittery moments.

Sergio Ramos (6/10):Started started pretty well but had to leave because of what appeared to be an adductor issue. PSG will be hoping that his absence is brief.

Nuno Mendes (6/10):After a brief absence, the player returned to the lineup but lacked match sharpness.