April 29, (THEWILL) – PSG took to the road to face sixth-placed Strasbourg at the Stade de la Meinau, with the Ligue 1 title already secured. The 90 minutes perfectly encapsulated the season’s frustrations for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
Les Parisiens were crowned Ligue 1 champions last week, but they found themselves in a dogfight with Strasbourg, who were encouraged by a European battle and a raucous home crowd to not shrivel against the champions.
Kevin Gameiro, a former PSG striker, scored the game’s first goal for the hosts. While Strasbourg was left to rue a number of early errors, there was no doubt that the hosts were up to the task.
PSG’s strongest charge came from the forward pairing of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, who led the team to a 3-1 advantage at halftime. The French forward scored a fantastic goal past Matz Sels after Neymar slid a great pass in behind the Strasbourg defence.
Sergio Ramos missed the target with an audacious shot from near the halfway line, but PSG took the lead in the 64th minute when Hakimi finished a brilliant play.
Then, Mbappe seized onto Alexander Djiku’s botched back pass and steered a perfect finish into the bottom-right corner for what appeared to be game over for any sort of redemption for Strasbourg.
Yet, the points were eventually shared after a ferocious fightback from the hosts. Strasbourg’s late goals came from substitutes, with Hamad Diallo working hard on a Marco Verratti own-goal to pull one back before Anthony Caci equalised in stoppage time.
In the struggle for European spots, the hosts will place a high value on the point earned against their more prestigious opponents. PSG, meanwhile, can only blame themselves for being held to another draw after squandering a late lead, as they did against Lens last week.
While Strasbourg will travel to Brest on Saturday for their next fixture, champions PSG will welcome Troyes to the Parc des Princes on Sunday.
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.
