PSG: Messi taken off at half-time, away side against Lille narrowly wins
Messi taken off at half-time, PSG needed captain Marquinhos to equalize in the 74th minute after Jonathan David had given the away side a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes against Lille.
Meanwhile, Paris Saint-Germain’s Argentinian forward Lionel Messi (L), performance at the France Ligue 1 against Lille at the Parc des Princes stadium, in Paris, on Friday, October 29, 2021.
Then arrived to fire low into the net from Neymar’s lay-off and secure a win that allows PSG to extend their lead at the top of Ligue 1 to a massive 10 points over second-placed Lens before the rest of the weekend’s games.
Nevertheless, this was another in a long line of disjointed displays from Mauricio Pochettino’s team and the coach was again left with questions to answer.
READ ALSO: I hope Lionel Messi will play for Barcelona again- Laporta
It was the third time in four home league games that PSG have come from behind to score a late-winning goal, and here it came against a Lille side who are in mid-table after a poor start to their title defense.
The absence of top-scorer Mbappe due to illness did not help, nor did that of injured playmaker Marco Verratti.
“It is not by chance that the team responded the way they did. It shows the mentality and the character that they have,” Pochettino insisted.
“We want to win in the best possible manner, and by the biggest margin. The truth is that it’s often a struggle but it’s not by chance that we have won 10 league games out of 12.”