Neymar off as Lille upset PSG at home to take control of Ligue 1 title race
PSG were ousted from the top of Ligue 1 thanks to a 1-0 loss to title rivals Lille on a Saturday afternoon further marred by Neymar’s sending off.
It is their first loss to Les Dogues at Parc des Princes since 27th April 1996 – 24 matches ago.
Lille made the breakthrough in the 20th minute against the run of play when Jonathan Ikone made a great run down the right to meet Renato Sanches’ pass before cutting it back to the unmarked Jonathan David to fire home.
⏸️⌛️ HALF-TIME: @PSG_English 0⃣-1⃣ Lille
A big 45 minutes required.#𝗣𝗦𝗚𝗟𝗢𝗦𝗖�𝗢𝗦𝗖 pic.twitter.com/bkT7PJ8qR2
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) April 3, 2021
It was their only shot of the first half, yet they somehow always seemed more likely to score than their Parisian counterparts who were dominant yet panicky on the ball.
Neymar went closest for them with an acrobatic volley within the first ten minutes and a diving header wide in the second half, but it was a quiet afternoon for fellow PSG star Kylian Mbappe after having an early strike saved by Mike Maignan, who earned a 17th Ligue 1 clean sheet of the season.
Les Parisiens eventually let their frustrations get the better of them, picking up four yellow cards along the way before reaching boiling point when Neymar was sent off for pushing over Tiago Djalo in injury time due to his potentially erroneous belief that he was clipped by the young Portuguese defender.
FULL-TIME: @PSG_English 0⃣-1⃣ Lille
It ends in defeat this afternoon.#PSGLOSC pic.twitter.com/0qgZQOdWhR
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) April 3, 2021
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Bizarrely, Djalo was also sent off after the altercation, picking up a second yellow.
Lille face off against ninth-place Metz next Friday, while PSG are away to Strasbourg next Saturday in between the two legs of their Champions League quarter-final against Bayern Munich.