Messi upset at being changed, Icardi will get late winner for PSG

Lionel Messi hit the crossbar with a curling free kick and seemed offended at being taken off within the seventy fifth minute in his house debut for Paris Saint-Germain.

Substitute Mauro Icardi scored deep into stoppage time as PSG scraped a 2-1 win over Lyon within the French league to make it six straight victories.

Messi stared sharply at PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino and appeared to snub a handshake as he got here off. The six-time Ballon d’Or winner, who remains to be chasing his first PSG objective in his third look following his shock transfer from Barcelona, sat glum-faced on the bench.

As he was coming off, Messi made a gesture along with his palms aside as if to say he did not perceive, and Pochettino tried a proof afterward.
“Everyone knows we have great players in the squad, we have 35 players. But we must make decisions for the good of the team. Sometimes they lead to a positive result and sometimes not,” Pochettino mentioned by a translator.

“These are decisions we need to take. Sometimes it pleases people, or it doesn’t. I asked him how he was, and he said he was fine.”

On the sector, Icardi discovered area to move in Kylian Mbappe’s exact cross from the left within the 93rd. PSG fell behind within the 53rd when Brazil midfielder Lucas Paqueta completed neatly, after ahead Karl Toko Ekambi picked him out with a low cross to the entrance publish.

Neymar equalized from the penalty spot within the 66th after he was fouled by 18-year-old proper again Malo Gusto. Lyon coach Peter Bosz was sad with the decision.

“It’s not Malo who fouls Neymar, it’s Neymar who puts his hand on him and fouls him,” Bosz mentioned. “I can understand if the referee didn’t see it, but then there is VAR.” Lyon’s long-serving president, Jean-Michel Aulas, went even additional by calling the choice “an aberration” and saying the referee ought to have used video evaluate.

Messi virtually scored within the thirty second. He discovered Neymar down the left and sprinted to fulfill Neymar’s intelligent reverse move, however goalkeeper Anthony Lopes learn Messi’s low shot nicely and denied him along with his legs.

Four minutes later, Lopes was caught to the spot as Messi hit the crossbar with a free kick from 25 meters. Messi, whose final Champions League objective for Barca was away to PSG in final season’s spherical of 16 return leg, additionally hit the bar in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Club Brugge.
PSG is 5 factors forward of bitter rival Marseille, having performed one recreation extra.

Marseille earlier beat Rennes 2-0 to maneuver into second place with striker Bamba Dieng getting his third objective in two video games. After Dieng turned in a cross from midfielder Pol Lirola within the forty eighth, substitute Amine Harit scored within the seventieth after chopping in from the left flank.

Also, Amine Gouiri missed a late penalty as fifth-placed Nice was held to a 2-2 draw by visiting Monaco in an exhilarating French Riviera derby. Gouiri had the possibility to make it 3-2 from the spot within the 82nd following a hand ball by defender Benoit Badiashile. But he missed the goal.

Monaco striker Wissam Ben Yedder’s penalty 5 minutes earlier made it 2-2, moments after Gouiri and Andy Delort arrange midfielder Hicham Boudaoui. After Nice ahead Kasper Dolberg limped off with a knee harm, midfielder Aleksandr Golovin put Monaco forward within the thirty ninth from a right-wing cross by Gelson Martins.

Delort, who changed Dolberg, equalized within the fiftieth as he headed in Gouiri’s cross. Gouiri has 4 objectives and two assists in six video games.
Struggling Monaco is in 14th spot.

OTHER MATCHES
Angers dropped to fourth after dropping 4-1 at house to Nantes for its first defeat this season. High-flying Angers was introduced all the way down to earth when Nantes scored twice inside the primary 5 minutes by Andrei Girotto and Ludovic Blas.

Captain Ismael Traore shortly pulled one again, however striker Randal Kolo Muani quickly made it 3-1 and Blas added a late fourth for midtable Nantes.
Midfield schemer Teji Savanier grabbed an 87th-minute equalizer for Montpellier in a 1-1 draw at Troyes.
Also, it was Clermont 1, Brest 1; and Reims 0, Lorient 0.

FAN VIOLENCE
On Saturday, the match between Lens and defending champion Lille was interrupted for about half-hour after followers from the northern rivals clashed at halftime. Lens received 1-0.

The league’s disciplinary fee will meet on Monday to debate the second high-profile incident of the season, after critical dysfunction on the Nice-Marseille recreation.