PARIS: Kylian Mbappe broke through to score a last-minute winner as Paris Saint-Germain beat Brest 2-1 on Saturday, ending a bruising midweek Champions League exit at the hands of Bayern Munich. It will go a short way towards healing. .
PSG have only the Ligue 1 title to play for in the remaining months of the season after the Qatari-owned club were knocked out of Europe’s elite club competition in the last 16 with a 3-0 aggregate defeat.
They took the lead in the trip to Brittany in the 37th minute when Carlos Soler opened the scoring after Mbappe’s shot was parried by Brest goalkeeper Marco Bezot.
Yet the home side, fighting to avoid relegation, equalized before half-time through Frank Honourt and looked set to hold on to a valuable point in their fight to avoid relegation.
But then Mbappe, who had just been booked for kicking Brest midfielder Haris Belkabla in the back of the calf, was sent on goal by Lionel Messi and beat Bezot to score.
Despite the underwhelming performance, the result allows PSG to extend their lead at the top of Ligue 1 to 11 points over nearest challengers Marseille, who face Strasbourg on Sunday.
“People can say it’s a small victory but it’s a victory. Everything wasn’t perfect but we had a lot of chances and we didn’t let that hide the fact,” PSG coach Christophe Gaultier told the broadcaster. We probably needed a last-minute winner.” Canal Plus.
“It was very important to come here and win three days after our disappointment against Bayern. We are fighting for the title. The context is obviously not favorable but the win was the important thing.”
PSG, chasing a record 11th French league title and ninth under Qatar, were missing several players, including Neymar, at the Stade-Francis Le Blay.
The Brazilian is recovering from surgery on torn ankle ligaments in Doha and is not expected to play again this season.
Spain international Soler was one of three players brought into the Paris lineup after Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat in the second leg of the tie against Bayern in Germany.
The former Valencia player opened the scoring early on, but his powerful shot was deflected off the post by Messi, assisted by Messi.
Soler then opened the scoring, only for Honourt to control a long ball from Romain del Castillo and hold off Sergio Ramos and Timothe Pembele before equalizing.
Bijout saved well from Messi in the second half but the Dutch goalkeeper could not stop Mbappe from scoring the winner as the France superstar took his tally for the season to 31 in all competitions for his club.
He is joint top of the Ligue 1 scorers’ charts on 19 goals with Canadian Jonathan David, who scored a hat-trick for Lille in Friday’s 3-3 draw with Lyon.
Rennes, who are fifth, drew 0-0 at Auxerre in the other game of the week.
