Paris Saint-Germain were held to a 1-1 draw at Toulouse in Ligue 1 on Saturday, once again failing to convince.
Laurent Blanc’s reigning champions remain unbeaten this season, but they had to come from behind to claim a fourth draw in their past five matches in all competitions, Jean-Christophe Bahebeck canceling out Wissam Ben Yedder’s opener.
The result ended PSG’s run of 10 successive wins over Toulouse and left them two points adrift of Ligue 1 leaders Olympique de Marseille, who were due to host AS Saint-Etienne yesterday.
PSG were again without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who sat out a second game in a row with a nagging heel injury, and Blanc made half a dozen changes to the team that had won 2-0 at Stade Malherbe Caen Calvados last week.
One of those changes saw Serge Aurier return to the starting lineup against the club he left on loan in the summer and the Ivorian defender was at fault as the hosts took the lead with just eight minutes played.
When he was short with a back-pass to Salvatore Sirigu, the lively Ben Yedder pounced in between the goalkeeper and David Luiz, before converting from a tight angle.
PSG recovered to draw level just after the half-hour mark when Marco Verratti found Bahebeck with a quickly-taken free-kick over the home defense and the forward slotted past Zacharie Boucher to score his first Ligue 1 goal for the club.
“We started badly. I don’t know if it was the kickoff time or the heat,” PSG captain for the day Blaise Matuidi told Canal Plus.
Earlier, AS Monaco suffered a fourth loss in just eight league games this season.
The principality club, who had won their past three games in all competitions, were beaten 1-0 at home by OGC Nice in the Cote d’Azur derby, with Brazilian midfielder Carlos Eduardo scoring the only goal from an early free-kick.
Rene Girard’s LOSC Lille Metropole sit second in the table after a trademark 1-0 victory against SC Bastia, achieved thanks to a first-half strike from on-loan Liverpool striker Divock Origi.
Promoted Metz are fifth, level on points with PSG, after a 3-0 win against nine-man Stade de Reims, with Venezuelan striker Juan Falcon scoring twice.
Montpellier Herault beat En Avant de Guingamp 2-1, while Evian Thonon Gaillard are off the bottom thanks to a 2-0 victory at Lorient.
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