PSG slump to second league defeat

PSG slump to second league defeat

Sunday, December 14, 2014 7:57 pm


PSG's Luiz and Cavani

PSG’s Luiz and Cavani

Star-studded Paris Saint Germain slumped to a second defeat in a week as they lost their unbeaten French Ligue 1 record with a 1-0 away loss at lowly Guingamp on Sunday.

The shock reverse leaves the door open for Ligue 1 leaders Marseille, on 38 points, to climb four clear later Sunday when they take on Monaco.

Victory for Marseille would make them ‘Champions of Autumn’, league leaders going into the winter break.

PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi had been furious as the side lost their record as last unbeaten team in any of Europe’s leading nations with a 3-1 defeat in Barcelona on Wednesday.

But this was far worse.

Jeremy Pied got Guingamp’s goal with a flying header on the edge of the six-yard box in the 11th minute with the Paris central defence of Thiago Silva and David Luiz nowhere to be seen.

“It was poor marking all round, even me I got it wrong,” said PSG midfielder Blaise Matuidi.

“We’re really upset. We’re just not used to losing and now that’s two in a week,” he added.

Edinson Cavani had hit the crossbar in the second minute and Zlatan Ibrahimovic had the ball in the goal in the 35th minute with the type of flick only he and a few others in the game can pull off, only to see an offside flag go up.

Paris should have had a penalty on the hour when Dorian Leveque handled when challenging Ezequiel Lavezzi, who was given a yellow card for his furious reaction when no spot-kick was awarded.

PSG had ten wins and seven draws going into the game and, despite dominating, Guingamp’s bloody-minded resistance was eventually more than a match for the Qatari-backed millionaires.

“If we lose because the other side were good that’s one thing, but this we cannot tolerate,” said PSG coach Laurent Blanc.

“I’ve told David Luiz he’s got to concentrate better than that,” he added.

In Sunday’s other afternoon kick-off Lille, dumped out of the Europa League in midweek, picked up three welcome points with a 3-0 win over Toulouse, thanks to goals from Djibril Sibide, Ryan Mendes and Nolan Roux.


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