Ligue 1, 25th day
Beaujoire Stadium
Nantes-PSG 3-1
Goals: Kolo Muani (4th), Merlin (16th), Blas (45th + 5 from the penalty spot) for Nantes; Neymar (47th) for PSG
A magnificent Nantes team made PSG fold 3-1. The Parisians tried everything but came up against Lafont and some disputed arbitration decisions.
The Canaries literally flew early in the game. Untenable, they started off with their feet on the floor. After a ball lost by Mbappé in the Nantes camp, Antoine Kombouaré’s men made a dazzling counter and Simon served Kolo Muani who slipped the ball between the legs of Navas. Behind, Paris reacted but Messi stumbled on a Lafont of the great evenings. The match got carried away, the public of Beaujoire too. Quentin Merlin scored his first goal in Ligue 1 by clearing the top corner of Navas with a shot from 20 meters. PSG did not have as much success and Mbappé, Gueye or even Neymar stumbled on a Lafont on fire. The match was very pleasant with play, incessant action and intensity, perhaps too much.
A match dictated by the VAR
Nicolas Pallois tackled Kylian Mbappé who went deep. A rough intervention which was not warned and not reviewed by the VAR. The latter was the star of the end of the first period. She came to cancel the red card given to Dennis Appiah for an annihilation of goal action before granting a penalty to Nantes for a handball by Wijnaldum. Blas transformed the sentence and gave the FCN a three-goal lead at rest.
Tuesday: Messi misses a pen vs. Real Madrid.
Saturday: Neymar misses a pen vs. Nantes.
PSG struggling from the spot 😬 pic.twitter.com/A7WXDMzoMX
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 19, 2022
A lead that was not going to stay more than two minutes since Messi found Neymar who deceived Lafont as soon as he returned from the locker room. PSG dreamed of a comeback, and even more so when Mbappé was mowed down in the area by Appiah. But, Neymar saw his penalty being stopped by Lafont (59th) and Parisian hopes gradually fading. Then, Lafont continued to disgust the Parisian attackers and Mbappé missed the well-placed frame (73rd). Nantes managed quietly to afford the scalp of PSG and climb to fifth place as the wide leader PSG suffered its second defeat in L1.