Football
PSG Defeats Lille Despite Subbing Lionel Messi at Half-Time
by privatebet.com - 2021/10/30
Paris Saint-Germain's latest clash with the defending Ligue 1 champion Lille was never going to be an easy one, but they managed to win against all odds. PSG defeated Lille 2-1 after Lionel Messi withdrew from the pitch at halftime due to injury. PSG boss Mauricio Pochettino told Amazon Prime that Messi has been subbed as “a precaution” after speaking to the doctor. He was replaced by Mauro Icardi, and Pochettino described this decision as their way of being flexible because the starting plan doesn’t always work. “It's just that Lille knows us well. We weren't good enough to feed our offensive players and have control of the game. But I don't think it's a single player or a position that changes everything,” explained Pochettino. To make things even more difficult for PSG, they were also playing without Kylian Mbappe, who is suffering from an infection. His absence gave Angel Di Maria and Neymar a chance to shine, and they put a lot of pressure on Lille and eventually led PSG to victory. Things looked pretty bleak for PSG in the first half, after Jonathan David scored a goal for Lille and gave his team a lead. The captain Marquinhos helped PSG make a comeback thanks to a second-half equalizer, and Di Maria led them to victory by scoring a spectacular goal two minutes before the final whistle.