Paris St Germain’s Moussa Diaby in action with Nantes’ Charles Traore during the Ligue 1, at Nantes and Paris St Germain, at The Stade de la Beaujoire, Louis Fonteneau, in Nantes, France, on April 17, 2019. Photo: Reuters
PARIS: Paris St Germain missed another opportunity to seal their eighth Ligue 1 title when their much-changed side were beaten 3-2 at strugglers Nantes on Wednesday.
Victory would have put PSG out of reach at the top of the standings with six games left, but Dani Alves’s opener was cancelled out by Diego Carlos before Majeed Waris and an own goal by Alves gave the Canaries all three points at La Beaujoire.
PSG‘s Metehan Guclu reduced the arrears a minute from fulltime in his maiden Ligue 1 appearance.
It was an embarrassing performance from runaway leaders PSG, who have 81 points from 32 games and lead second-placed Lille by 17 points.
Thomas Tuchel’s side, who have now picked up only one point from their last three Ligue 1 outings, will be crowned champions on Sunday if they beat Monaco at home.
PSG were without the injured Neymar, Edinson Cavani, Thiago Silva, Marquinhos and Thomas Meunier, a situation that led the German coach to complain about the lack of depth of his squad last weekend.
Marco Verratti and Juan Bernat were suspended while Kylian Mbappe and Angel Di Maria were rested ahead of Sunday’s league game against Monaco and the April 27 French Cup final against Stade Rennes.
Their firepower was sorely missed as Eric Choupo-Moting barely threatened throughout, apart from when he hit the post in the second half.
Alves, however, opened the scoring after 19 minutes with a splendid long-range lob after collecting a cross from Leandro Paredes.
Yet Carlos headed home the equaliser four minutes later as PSG, who suffered a 5-1 humiliation at Lille last Sunday, looked shaky.
Waris put the hosts ahead a minute before the interval when he deflected a team mate’s shot past Gianluigi Buffon.
Nantes doubled their advantage six minutes into the second half as Carlos’s attempt form a corner deflected in off Alves.
Guclu, 20, celebrated his first top flight appearance by finding the net with a fine low shot from inside the box.
The result lifted Nantes up to 14th on 37 points, 12 above the relegation zone.
Written by Sandeep Sen
This news first appeared on https://thehimalayantimes.com/sports/psg-again-made-to-wait-to-clinch-title-with-nantes-defeat/ under the title “PSG again made to wait to clinch title with Nantes defeat”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
