Marseille win to keep pressure on PSG in France

Paris Saint-Germain were only minutes away from a fourth consecutive loss when Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi came to the rescue to avert a major crisis at the Qatari-backed club.

The Ligue 1 leaders gave away a two-goal advantage and were trailing with four minutes left before Mbappe and Messi turned things around to transform a fiasco in the making into a 4-3 win against Lille on Sunday.

As PSG looked headed for yet another setback, Mbappe snatched a late equaliser at the Parc des Princes. Messi then slotted home the winner deep in added time from a free kick, with a lethal left-footed shot into the bottom right corner.

“I will simply say that it’s a great relief,” PSG coach Christophe Galtier said.

PSG kept a five-point lead over second-placed Marseille, who kept the pressure on the leaders with a 3-2 win at Toulouse ahead of their clash next week at Stade Velodrome in the biggest match in French soccer.

Trailing 1-0 at halftime, Marseille responded with goals from Chancel Mbemba Mangulu, Cengiz Under and Nuno Tavarez, before conceding again late on.

After playing just half an hour against Bayern Munich after returning from a thigh injury, Mbappe was back in Galtier’s starting line-up.

PSG led 2-0 after 17 minutes with goals by Mbappe and Neymar but the French champions then conceded three times — with Bafode Diakite, Jonathan David and Jonathan Bamba all scoring — and lost Neymar through injury.

Mbappe did not give up, though, and put PSG back in the match when he latched onto a back pass from Juan Bernat to slot the ball into the back of the net before Messi delighted PSG fans with his free kick.

Elsewhere, goals from Aleksandr Golovin and Myron Boadu gave third-place Monaco a 2-1 win at Brest and Lens beat Nantes 3-1 to remain in fourth place, eight points behind PSG.

Lorient beat Ajaccio 3-0, Rennes forward Arnaud Kalimuendo scored twice in a 2-0 defeat of Clermont while Wahbi Khazri scored a late winner to lead Montpellier to a 1-0 win at Troyes.