Kylian Mbappe kept calm as second-place Lens beat PSG 3-1 to cut the Ligue 1 holders’ lead in the table to four points.
Surrounded by three defenders, Kylian Mbappe made a stunning effort from the top of the 18-yard box.
Mbappe leaned to his left, turned to one side, and tried to turn to the other.
But in all his rotation, he lost the ball, and a flurry of opposing defenders converged to punch it. PSG’s star striker returned in frustration, while Lens regained possession.
It was one of many bad moments for Mbappe, who found himself covered by a scruffy opponent. With Lionel Messi still out of the squad and Neymar suspended, PSG needed their star striker. But the Ligue 1 leaders never got him into the game, while Lens wreaked havoc at the break, stealing a 3-1 win to cut Les Parisians’ lead in the table to four points.
Lens opened the scoring less than five minutes later when Przemislav Frankovski fired home from close range. But PSG responded shortly after, with Hugo Ekitike pouncing on a loose ball before finishing from a tight angle. Star man Lois Opanda made it 2-1 for the hosts after 20 minutes, beating two defenders and pressing the ball under Donnarumma to complete a fluid counter-attack.
Lens continued to build on the advantage in the second half and made it a third shortly after the break. Massadio Haidera dispossessed Fabian in front of the PSG box, before feeding Obanda, who bounced back to easily finish the ball into the path of Alexis Claude. PSG manager Christophe Galtier responded with a series of substitutions, but with a thin bench, he saw his replacements fail to provide any sort of lift to his side. Mbappe never got into the game and PSG ran out of options as they fell to a convincing defeat.
The Winners
Lois Openda:
Ironically, the standout forward wasn’t wearing a PSG shirt Sunday night. Openda terrorized the visitors’ back line, running in behind and exploiting the spaces left between Ramos and Mukiele. He only touched the ball 24 times, but set up one and scored a wonderful goal, his eighth of the season.
There were no real secrets as to how Openda was going to operate, but PSG never really had an answer. With their back four pushing up but playing far too wide, Openda had room all evening. It was, admittedly, slightly odd to see PSG undone by such a predictable formula, but there was a real beauty to the simplicity of Openda’s performance.
Hugo Ekitike
Ekitike spurned interest from Newcastle to sign for PSG in the summer, leading to a fair few raised eyebrows. Why would a young player sit on the bench behind one of the most prolific front threes on the sport? On Sunday night, he showed what he might have learned since joining the club.
Ekitike got himself on the scoresheet with a rather controversial finish, and got himself into the box with regularity. He still doesn’t have a clear understanding with Mbappe, but he’s now established himself as the clear stand-in if one or more of the trio are unavailable. Chances are, there will be many more goals to come.
The Ligue 1 title race:
There wasn’t supposed to be anything resembling a Ligue 1 title race before the season. PSG are just too good. Everyone else is too average. And there still might not be. This is a PSG side far from its best, with at least three key players missing.
But this was also an opportunity for Lens to make things interesting, with the second placed side able to cut PSG’s lead to four points. And they did just that. PSG will likely be too good (it’s genuinely difficult to see them losing another game). But if Lens keep winning, things might just get interesting.
