Ligue 1: Lionel Messi came to rescue Paris Saint Germain in the dying stages of the Ligue 1 fixture against Lille as he saved his side from blushes on Sunday. The PSG forward scored an injury-time winner to help Les Parisiens avoid their fourth consecutive loss. The match witnessed high action and the Paris club staged a comeback after trailing in the second half.
It became a special win for PSG as they missed their star forward Neymar for the majority part of the second half. The Brazilian forward was taken off the field on a stretcher after twisting his right ankle at the start of the second half. PSG led the first half by 2-1 but then trailed 2-3 as Lille were on their way to victory. But Mbappe and Messi scored to take their side home 4-3.
PSG made an ideal start as Kylian Mbappe and Neymar found the back of the nets in the first half. But, there came a twist in the tale as the Les Parisiens conceded their advantage. Bafode Diakite pulled one back to close the first half 2-1 in favour of PSG. Jonathan David then opened the scoresheets in the second half with a 58-minute penalty kick. Jonathan Bamba piled more pressure on his opponents as he found the nets in the 69th minute. But Kylian Mbappe found his second goal of the match in the 87th minute to bring it level before a Messi free-kick sealed the game in 90+5 minutes.
Messi scored a curling free kick to beat the Lille goal-saver Lucas Chevalier. Sporting director Luis Campos, who was seen screaming at the players and match officials, was seen celebrating the win. Meanwhile, Mbappe admitted that the team was not at its best. "The match was not great, we made a lot of mistakes," admitted Mbappe. "But we have shown that even when the context is not favourable, we can get by."
