French champions Paris Saint-Germain were hit by an injury crisis on Saturday as they not only saw four players break down, but also threw away a 2-0 lead over Stade Malherbe Caen Calvados in a dramatic 2-2 draw in the French Ligue 1.
It was the worst possible preparation for the French champions, who await English Premier League leaders Chelsea at the Parc des Princes tomorrow in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 encounter.
Following midfielder Yohan Cabaye, who limped off in the 16th minute, coach Laurent Blanc looked on in horror as Marquinhos, Serge Aurier and Lucas all suffered injuries and had to leave the pitch.
Photo: AFP
The late injuries meant PSG finished the match with nine men after Blanc had used all of his three substitutes, and the freak scenario went from bad to worse when Caen miraculously salvaged a point with two late goals.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ezequiel Lavezzi gave PSG what appeared to be a winning advantage after first-half goals but Caen, who began the day four points above the relegation zone, were given a lifeline in the 89th minute when Emiliano Sala scrambled home from inside the box. Deep into injury time, following a foul by Ibrahimovic, Herve Blazile curled a left-foot free-kick into the top corner leaving PSG and their watching faithful in shock.
Jose Mourinho and his Chelsea side are enjoying a weekend off, after being knocked out of the FA Cup in the previous round, but will have looked on with great interest at what happened in Paris.
In Saturday’s other Ligue 1 matches, Racing Club de Lens were beaten at home 2-0 by Evian Thonon Gaillard, Nantes lost 2-0 to visitors SC Bastia, hosts Toulouse edged Stade Rennais 2-1 and OGC Nice were held 0-0 away at LOSC Lille Metropole. The fixture between AS Monaco and Montpellier Herault was postponed due to heavy rainfall.
LA LIGA
Real Madrid bounced back from their 4-0 derby humiliation by Atletico Madrid last weekend with a 2-0 victory over RC Deportivo de la Coruna to move four points clear at the top of the Spanish La Liga on Saturday.
The hosts started nervously, but could have been well in front at the break as Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale both struck the bar before Isco’s curling effort opened the scoring after 23 minutes.
Deportivo had their chances to level early in the second half with Celso Borges hitting the post, but Karim Benzema put the result beyond any doubt with Madrid’s second 17 minutes from time.
In other La Liga matches, Sevilla registered a comfortable 3-0 home win over Cordoba, RCD Espanyol won 2-0 away at Malaga and hosts Granada were held 0-0 by Athletic Bilbao.
BUNDESLIGA
Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola admitted he was impressed by the German Bundesliga leaders following their record 8-0 hammering of Hamburg SV in preparation for their Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk in Lviv, Ukraine, tomorrow.
Arjen Robben, Thomas Mueller and Mario Goetze all netted twice, and Robert Lewandowski and Frank Ribery also scored. Bayern’s victory meant they maintained their eight-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga.
In other matches, Bayern 04 Leverkusen were edged at home 5-4 by VfL Wolfsburg in a nine-goal thriller, hosts Borussia Moenchengladbach and Eintracht Frankfurt both saw off respective visitors Cologne and Schalke 04 by a scoreline of 1-0, Werder Bremen won 3-2 at home to Augsburg and VfB Stuttgart were overcome 2-1 away at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
SERIE A
SSC Napoli missed the chance to close the gap on second-placed AS Roma, losing 3-1 at US Citta di Palermo in the Italian Serie A on Saturday, ending a run of six successive victories.
Achraf Lazaar, Franco Vazquez and Luca Rigoni gave Palermo a comfortable advantage before Manolo Gabbiadini scored a consolation for Napoli eight minutes from time.
Napoli are being closely followed by ACF Fiorentina, who cruised to a 3-1 win at US Sassuolo to move to within four points of the final Champions League qualifying spot.
Khouma Babacar and new signing Mohamed Salah inspired Fiorentina to victory, with the former netting twice after setting up Salah’s opener.
Domenico Berardi, who earlier hit the post, scored for Sassuolo.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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