Ten-man Paris Saint-Germain were indebted to a last-gasp Kylian Mbappe penalty as they struggled to a 2-1 win over Strasbourg in Ligue 1.
Mbappe scored three penalties in the World Cup final to no avail, but this one secured all three points for PSG in a tight contest that saw Neymar sent off.
The first hour of the game was all about Marquinhos. The Brazilian connected with a free kick from Neymar to head PSG into an early lead, and it looked like they would dominate from there.
However, he levelled things up himself shortly after half-time when he deflected an Adrien Thomasson cross into his own net.
That was just the start of the drama, though. It’s never dull with Neymar around, and he received two yellow cards in two second-half minutes, the second of which was for a clear dive in the Strasbourg box.
He was actually lucky not to get a straight red card for the first after catching Adrien Thomasson in the face with a swinging arm.
From there it felt like anyone’s game, with Strasbourg sensing the opportunity to cause a major shock. Mbappe, though, had other ideas.
He turned on the style in injury time and was fouled by a panicked Strasbourg challenge in the box. VAR had a look but concurred with the referee, handing the World Cup golden boot winner the chance to win it with the last kick of the game.
He was in no mood to pass up that opportunity and fired the penalty home himself.
GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma (7); RB: Nordie Mukiele (7), CB: Sergio Ramos (6), Marquinhos (7), LB: El Chadaille Bitshiabu (8); CM: Fabian (8), CM: Marco Verratti (6), Vitinha (7); CAM: Neymar (6); CF: Mbappe (9), CF: Hugo Ekitike (6)
Subs: Pablo Sarabia (6), Carlos Soler (6), Achraf Hakimi (6)
Player of the match – Kylian Mbappe
Credit: 90min.com
