Edinson Cavani came off the bench to spare Paris Saint-Germain’s blushes and maintain their Ligue 1 unbeaten run, as the champions retained top spot with a 1-1 draw at plucky Stade de Reims on Saturday.
The result means PSG finished the weekend top of Ligue 1 on 14 points ahead of Stade Rennais, who drew with Lille OSC on Friday, while Stade Malherbe Caen are third after a 2-1 win over Montpellier Herault.
At Reims, the two goals came within a minute of each other as home defender Jordan Saibatcheu took advantage of some hapless defending to give his side an 83rd-minute lead, which would have been enough to carry his side level with les Parisiens at the top, but PSG responded in style as Argentina playmaker Javier Pastore played a peach of a through-ball and Cavani rushed into the area to clip a slick shot past goalkeeper Kossi Agassa.
Photo: Reuters
It was his fifth league strike of the season.
“It would have been an injustice if we had lost this match, but we’re disappointed with the result because we should also have scored more goals,” PSG coach Laurent Blanc said. “We just were not nasty enough, in the good sense of the word.”
A badly misfiring Zlatan Ibrahimovic had missed a sitter on 62 minutes, fluffing a straightforward header with Agassa sat on the floor and the goal entirely at his mercy, the Sweden forward inexplicably nodding an easy chance wide.
“I thought I played alright, but I have to admit I really did miss a very easy chance indeed,” the striker said.
That was the moment Blanc went for broke and brought on Angel di Maria, Cavani and Blaise Matuidi, who had been left on the bench after last week’s 2-0 win over Malmo FF in the UEFA Champions League.
Reims coach Olivier Guegan expressed frustration at his side’s inability to hold on to their hard-earned lead.
“We’re satisfied with the point. We’ve been on a good run of form this season, but it’s a shame when you open the scoring against this kind of club only to concede an equalizer straight away,” he said.
Ezequiel Lavezzi almost forced a breakthrough on 17 minutes after chipping Agassa, only to see his shot agonizingly cleared off the line by a back-tracking defender.
A bullet-header from Marquinos, partnering captain Thiago Silva in central defense, was stopped thanks to lightning reflexes on the hour by Agassa, a 37-year-old from Togo.
Reims had gone into the game third in Ligue 1 and almost took a first-half lead when Nicolas de Preville hit the post on 40 minutes with PSG goalkeeper Kevin Trapp rooted to his line.
Also on Saturday, promoted Corsican minnows Gazelec Ajaccio scored their first-ever Ligue 1 goal in a 2-1 defeat at En Avant de Guingamp.
Senegal-born Kader Mangane was the man on target after 36 minutes of their sixth top-flight game, but his side remain rooted to the bottom of the table.
Elsewhere, OGC Nice claimed a 3-1 win at SC Bastia and Angers SCO beat fellow Ligue 1 new boys ESTAC Troyes 1-0.
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