The dark PSG, beaten by Lorient at the Parc des Princes

2023-04-30 19:26:45

Kylian Mbappé scored an improbable goal against Lorient, Sunday April 30, 2023, at the Parc des Princes, during the 33ᵉ day of Ligue 1, but could not prevent the defeat of his team (3-1) against Lorient. FRANCK FIFE / AFP

The Parisians will most likely be champions of France at the end of the Ligue 1 season, but these last weeks before the summer break seem more like a way of the cross than an extended party. Sunday April 30, the club of the capital was again beaten in championship, by Lorient this time (3-1), on its lawn of the Parc des Princes and in front of supporters who did not hesitate to whistle their players, at the end of the match as at half-time.

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Never in the rhythm, the Parisians quickly conceded the opener on a goal from Enzo Le Fée with a left-footed shot (15^e). And if the match had started badly, the sequel was even worse for PSG. Five minutes later, defender Achraf Hakimi was sent off after picking up a second yellow card, leaving his side down to ten for most of the game. To get by, PSG tried to rely, as often, on their local hero, Kylian Mbappé. Number 7 came very close to playing the role of the hero again in a rather surprising way.

Thinking he was the victim of a foul in the penalty area, the Blues striker stopped playing – just like the Lorient defense. But he was the first to understand that the referee hadn’t whistled, and he went to steal the ball that Lorient goalkeeper Yvon Mvogo had just put on the ground, to score what is undoubtedly the most improbable goal of his career. Still, this “gag equalizer” will not have revived PSG, on the contrary.

Angers officially relegated to Ligue 2

at 39^e minute, defender Darlin Yongwa took care of restoring the advantage to the Merlus with the right foot, before resisting with his colleagues from the rear guard to the Parisian waves falling on the Lorient goal. It was finally the visitors who managed to score a last goal, in counter-attack, by striker Bamba Dieng (89^e).

At the bottom of the ranking, this 33^e day of Ligue 1 sounded the death knell for the last hopes of maintaining Angers in the elite. The SCO was beaten by Rennes (4-2), and it is now mathematically certain to go down to the second division. The club has been stuck in last place in the standings for many months. This defeat thus puts an (almost) end to a nightmarish season, during which Angers changed coach twice, and was sentenced on Thursday to a recruitment ban for the next two transfer windows.

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