Paris Saint-Germain suffered another shock away defeat on Saturday, going down 1-0 to struggling Stade de Reims, despite the home side having to play with 10 men for the final half an hour.
Polish midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak was the star for the hosts, netting the all-important goal just six minutes after Christopher Glombard had been sent off.
The introduction of David Beckham for the final 26 minutes could not prevent the leaders slipping to their fifth Ligue 1 defeat this season and their second in three outings following a 3-2 reverse at Sochaux-Montbeliard last month.
“It’s not the same problem [as it was against Sochaux], it’s a different match. At Sochaux it was an attitude problem in particular. Here, we had problems playing because the pitch wasn’t good,” PSG manager Carlo Ancelotti said. “It’s not a problem of concentration. We tried to play with the ball on the ground, but the pitch wasn’t good. I can’t be angry. The team is doing good work, we are still top of Ligue 1. Today, it was a technical problem, not a problem with attitude.”
Ancelotti’s side remain three points clear at the top of the table, but Olympique Lyonnais could join them at the summit by beating Stade Brestois 29 in Brittany yesterday.
PSG made the short trip to Champagne country fresh from beating bitter rivals Olympique de Marseille twice in the previous week, once in the league and once in the round-of-16 of the Coupe de France.
Ancelotti made seven changes to his team from the Cup tie, with Javier Pastore, Lucas and Ezequiel Lavezzi among those returning, along with the suspension-free Marco Verratti.
His return in central midfield meant that Beckham was back on the bench at kickoff at a packed Stade Auguste Delaune.
Even with one eye on the second leg of their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie against Valencia on Wednesday, PSG should have been strong enough to see off the challenge of a Reims side with just one win in their previous 19 matches in all competitions.
The fact that 22-goal Zlatan Ibrahimovic had scored as many times in Ligue 1 this season as Reims indicated the size of task awaiting the hosts.
AS Saint-Etienne strengthened their case for Champions League soccer next season with a 4-0 mauling of 10-man fellow European hopefuls OGC Nice.
A double salvo from Brandao was supplemented by a Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang penalty and a goal from Yohan Mollo, while Valentin Eysseric was shown a first-half red card for a dangerous lunge on Jeremy Clement.
The result propelled Les Verts to third in the table.
In other matches, SC Bastia defeated AC Ajaccio 1-0, AS Nancy-Lorraine won 2-1 at Sochaux, Lorient and Valenciennes drew 1-1, while the match between Toulouse and Evian Thonon Gaillard finished goalless.
ADVANTAGE ATLETICO: Well off the pace in La Liga, the Copa del Rey represents Atletico Madrid’s best chance of silverware this season Atletico Madrid on Thursday hammered Copa del Rey holders Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their semi-final. After an Eric Garcia own-goal sent Diego Simeone’s side ahead early on, Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez struck to give Atletico a landslide lead by halftime. Barca defender Garcia was sent off in the final stages, with Atletico maintaining their significant advantage on the record 32-time winners, which they take into the second leg at the Camp Nou on March 3. Both sides missed good chances in the second half, with Barca’s Pau Cubarsi having a goal disallowed before Garcia was sent off
Stade Rennais, four days after firing coach Habib Beye, stunned Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 on Friday, snapping the defending champions’ seven-match winning run in French Ligue 1. Second-placed RC Lens could leapfrog the champions and retake top spot last night after press time if they beat Paris FC in the capital. PSG started brightly, with Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue carving openings to no avail. Rennes fired Beye on Monday and promoted his assistant Sebastien Tambouret, and the same players who had lost four games on the bounce seemed transformed. Jordanian forward Mousa al-Tamari bagged the opener, unleashing a fierce strike
Dasun Shanaka hammered the fastest half-century by a Sri Lankan in T20Is as the cohosts thrashed Oman by 105 runs at the World Cup yesterday in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, for their second win in Group B. The 2014 champions piled up 225-5, the highest total of the tournament, before restricting an outclassed Oman to 120-9. The 43-year-old Mohammad Nadeem waged a lone battle for Oman, compiling an unbeaten 53 to become the oldest player to score a 50 in T20 World Cups. Having promoted himself up the order and under pressure to deliver, Sri Lanka skipper Shanaka smashed a 19-ball half-century. It has been
Manchester City FC halved Arsenal FC’s lead at the top of the Premier League with a 3-0 home defeat of Fulham FC, and Aston Villa FC stayed in the frame with a late 1-0 victory at home to Brighton and Hove Albion FC on Wednesday. Nottingham Forest FC squandered a chance to put some distance between themselves and the bottom three as they drew 0-0 at home to bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers FC. Second-from-bottom Burnley FC pulled off a remarkable 3-2 comeback win over Crystal Palace FC to boost their slender survival hopes. City have little margin for error in their pursuit
RSS