PSG suffer another blow in home defeat to Lyon

PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain suffered a second home defeat in a row Sunday, falling 1-0 to Lyon as they saw their lead at the top of Ligue 1 cut to six points.

After losing 2-0 at home to Rennes two weeks ago, it was Lyon’s Bradley Barcola who inflicted the latest loss for PSG at the Parc des Princes.

The goal by Barcola — who had come on as replacement for injured Amin Sarr — made up for a missed penalty by Alexandre Lacazette in the first half.

It is the Parisians’ fifth Ligue 1 loss this season, all of them in 2023, and leaves Christophe Galtier’s side just six points ahead of both second placed Lens and Marseille in third.

Lyon, coached by former PSG boss Laurent Blanc, now move up to ninth place.

PSG midfielder Danilo acknowledged the team had hit “a difficult phase” which they had to find a way out of, given their rivals were closing in.

“We have to wake up. The title is not guaranteed at all, there are still a lot of matches,” he said on Prime Video.

“There are lot of things to change, not just the mindset, but it’s not up to me to say what.”

PSG have been severely hampered by injuries, with Neymar recovering from ankle surgery and their defense decimated.

On Sunday, PSG called up 17-year-old central defender El Chadaille Bitshiabu but he was overawed, giving away the ball too often.

Kylian Mbappe failed to pull off a repeat of his late scoring heroics as he had done in recent games against Strasbourg and Brest.

Before the kickoff against Lyon, Lionel Messi’s name had drawn whistles from supporters in the stadium during team line-up announcements.

Messi — who led Argentina to last year’s World Cup triumph in Qatar — is nearing the end of his two-year contract with the Paris club who head Ligue 1 and