Sublime Messi Free Kick Earns PSG 4-3 Win Over Lille
Lionel Messi hit a remarkable free kick in extra time to give Paris St-Germain a 4-3 comeback win against Lille on Sunday, putting them seven points clear at the top of Ligue 1. PSG strengthened their advantage over the pursuing group, while AS Monaco moved into second place with a 2-1 win over Brest. Later on Sunday, third-placed Olympique de Marseille will visit to Toulouse.
In the first 40 seconds, Lille nearly caught PSG off guard when Timothy Weah's low attempt took a vicious deflection, but Gianluigi Donnarumma got down swiftly to save with his legs.
After an early scare at the Parc des Princes, PSG rapidly climbed into the game, with Messi striking the target from a tight angle after being passed through by Neymar.
Kylian Mbappe scored in the 11th minute with a stunning individual skill, ghosting past two opponents and squeezing a shot under goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier, making his first start after a two-week injury absence.
"The match was not perfect; we made a lot of mistakes, but we demonstrated that even when the circumstances are not favourable, we can win." "We're a different team; we can always get by," Mbappe told Prime Video.
Six minutes later, Neymar tapped in a Vitinha cross to round off a fluid play for Christophe Galtier's side.
Lille, on the other hand, were far from passive, as Jonathan David challenged Donnarumma with a bullet header before Bafode Diakite hammered home an Andre Gomes cross in the 24th minute to bring one back.
PSG suffered a setback early in the second half as striker Neymar was stretchered off with a suspected ankle injury.
Lille earned a penalty after Marco Verratti yanked Tiago Djalo's shirt, and David calmly converted the spot kick to tie the game.
Lille applied pressure and were rewarded when Gomes pinged a long ball into Jonathan Bamba's feet, who hammered his effort past Donnarumma to give his side the lead.
The visitors' enthusiasm dipped, and they were punished when Mbappe turned in Juan Bernat's cross to tie the game at 3-3.
Five minutes into stoppage time, Messi won a free kick and fired it into the bottom corner to score his 11th league goal of the season and seal a thrilling victory for PSG.
Lille plummeted to sixth when Stade Rennais defeated Clermont 2-0.
Lens defeated Nantes 3-1 at home to climb up to 49 points, level with Marseille in third place.
Deiver Machado opened the scoring in the 34th minute with a fantastic long-range shot, before Adrien Thomasson, recruited from Racing Strasbourg last month, doubled Lens' lead two minutes later.
Florent Mollet offered Nantes a glimmer of hope in the 40th minute with a curling strike from the outskirts of the box that went past Lens goalkeeper Brice Samba, but a Charles Traore own goal in the second half sealed the three points for the hosts.
