League, 20th day – No winner between OL and PSG (1-1), Kehrer responded to Paqueta, mute Mbappé

Lyon again stood up to the leader but is still treading water. Peter Bosz’s men had to be content with a draw against PSG on Sunday in the shock of the 20th day of Ligue 1 (1-1). If Lucas Paqueta quickly opened the scoring against borrowed Parisians (7th), OL then lacked realism and, once again, cracked in the last quarter of an hour on a recovery from Thilo Kehrer (75th) . After this fourth draw in a row in the league, Les Gones are 11th in the standings.

If Paris, seriously diminished in attack, immediately set foot on the ball at the entrance of the opposing camp, Lyon was perfectly block in its 3-4-2-1. Les Gones also took advantage of the visitors’ too quiet start to the game to poke them against and Houssem Aouar went to ask Keylor Navas after a loss of ball from Leandro Paredes (6th). Paqueta, he spun between the Argentinian midfielder of PSG and Colin Dagba after a perfect opening from Bruno Guimaraes, before opening the scoring with a low cross shot (1-0, 7th).

Pochettino saved by his coaching

Recently affected by the Covid, the Brazilian who had already scored in the first leg (Parisian victory 2-1) is now 7 goals in the league this season. Like Aouar, he perfectly knew how to use the calls of Moussa Dembélé in the axis to threaten the Parisian defense and illuminate the first period. Led by the score, PSG still woke up to the image of Paredes who unleashed a heavy long shot that Anthony Lopes had to push back (21st).

The Lyon goalkeeper also relaxed to deflect the vicious lob of Marquinhos (24th) and contain the revolt of the visitors which did not last. It was then necessary to wait for a corner shortly before the break to see Kylian Mbappé place a shot wrapped on the post (42nd). On resumption, Mauricio Pochettino slightly revised his plans and placed Marco Verratti in playmaker behind Mbappé and Mauro Icardi. At the same time, the always discreet Georginio Wijnaldum, initially right winger, retreated in the middle of the field.

Lyon still cracks at the end

These tactical changes have not borne fruit as the Italian clearly lacked benchmarks in this position. On the contrary, it is even the Lyonnais who have again slammed dangerous cons. The right piston Léo Dubois allowed the left piston Emerson Palmieri to place a grazing strike a little too crossed (51st), then Dembélé and Aouar set fire to the surface of a solid Navas (59th).

The Parisian coach was better inspired by launching Xavi Simons, Edouard Michut and Thilo Kehrer in place of Ander Herrera and the disappointing Paredes and Dagba (69th). While Verratti regained his initial position, the Dutchman placed himself behind the two attackers and nicely launched Mbappé who was too greedy (72nd). Michut, him, showed lucidity in the zone of truth to give back to Kehrer who deceived Lopes of a crossed recovery (1-1, 76th).

The German has chosen his moment to unlock his counter in this 2021-2022 fiscal year, while PSG scored his 14th goal in the last quarter of an hour of an L1 match this season. The opposite is true for OL, which has now conceded 44% of its 27 goals in the last 15 minutes.

In a disputed end of the match, he could even have suffered another because Mbappé sent his free kick from the left on the opposite amount (82nd). This time, the Gones escaped a cruel setback but not a few regrets because there was room to pocket more than a point.