December 23, (THEWILL) – Despite a lacklustre 1-1 draw with Lorient at the Stade du Moustoir, where Sergio Ramos was sent off late on, Paris Saint-Germain remained 13 points clear at the top of Ligue 1.
Lorient came into this game with an eight-game losing streak in all competitions and a 12-game winless streak. However, they appeared significantly superior in the first half, employing a simple long-ball tactic to great effect.
Nigeria’s Terem Moffi ran clean through numerous times while running off the shoulders of Marquinhos and Presnel Kimpembe, but his lack of clinical finishing let him down. After a straightforward ball from deep, he went one-on-one with Keylor Navas and dropped him to the ground with a beautiful shimmy, only for his attempted dink to stray too close to the goalie.
Dango Ouattara and Armand Lauriente both had decent chances to score, but PSG’s finest chance came out of nowhere when Lionel Messi’s half-volley drive ricocheted off the inside of the post. After a sequence of short, precise passes around the box, Thomas Monconduit blasted a shot into the top corner from the edge of the area, giving the hosts the lead just before halftime.
Lorient could have been two or three goals up at halftime if their forwards had been more precise with their finishing. Soon after the restart, they had a great chance to make it 2-0, but Ouattarra had the ball trapped under his feet five yards out, allowing Georginio Wijnaldum to get back and make a block.
Angel Di Maria, who was teed up nicely by Messi only to blast a shot over the crossbar with the goal gaping, summed up PSG’s performance. Not long later, he squandered another good chance by slicing a shot into the seats from just outside the box.
The visitors’ bad night was made even worse when Sergio Ramos, who came on as a second-half substitute, was sent off for a vicious block on Moffi. Even though Mauro Icardi salvaged a point with a header in injury time, it was a poor display from the league leaders.
Yet, Marseille’s stalemate with Reims allowed PSG to maintain their 13-point lead at the top.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
