Defending champions Paris Saint-Germain gave up a two-goal lead and the chance to go top of Ligue 1 as SC Bastia stormed to a 4-2 comeback win in Corsica on Saturday.
The shock loss left the Parisian club fourth, after AS Saint-Etienne extended their unbeaten league run to 10 games by defeating Stade de Reims 2-1 to climb up to third.
PSG had looked to be in total control after goals in the 10th minute from Lucas and in the 20th when 19-year-old midfielder Adrien Rabiot — who is being linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur — pounced on the loose ball and fired it with his left foot into the bottom corner.
Photo: AFP
Ryad Boudebouz pulled one back from the spot for Bastia on the half hour after Gregory Van der Wiel was harshly judged to have handled.
On the stroke of halftime, David Luiz was caught napping as Francois Modesto headed home a corner.
I Turchini took the lead with a thunderbolt in every sense of the word, as defender Julien Palmieri latched on to a poorly cleared corner in the 56th minute and unleashed a jaw-dropping half-volley.
The pulsating finale ended when Palmieri ran clear of the defense to make it 4-2 in the 89th minute for a fully deserved win that ended Bastia’s run of eight straight Ligue 1 defeats to the capital side.
“I’m delighted with the three points given the tricky situation we’re in, but let’s not get carried away,” Bastia coach Ghislain Printant said.
The victory was a welcome relief for the struggling club, who are now two points and four places above the relegation zone.
PSG coach Laurent Blanc put the defeat down to a lack of respect for the adversary.
“We stopped respecting them after the first 35 minutes and they made us pay a heavy price,” he said.
Ahead of the match, one minute’s silence was observed in the wake of the Islamist attacks that left 17 people dead this week. Some local fans unfurled a banner reading: “Qatar finances PSG and terrorism.”
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