Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel thought he could rest his stars against the 19th-place team in Ligue 1 ahead of the start of the Champions League knockout rounds on Tuesday. He was wrong.
SC Amiens scored the game’s first three goals only to see PSG come back to take the lead before a late equalizer gave the home side an unlikely 4-4 draw Saturday at Stade de la Licorne.
For the second time this season, PSG manager Thomas Tuchel had to deal with drama after a Kylian Mbappé substitution — this time during his team’s 5-0 victory against Montpellier on Saturday.
Sometimes you just really don’t want to be substituted out of a match. The level of soccer doesn’t matter — whether it’s youth, college or professional — but the best thing to do is wish your oncoming teammate success and then get cozy on the bench. But Mbappé seems to have his own style.
PSG defeated Lille 2-0 on Sunday to go 10 points clear of Marseille at the top of the Ligue 1 table. Both of the goals were scored by Neymar — the first a sensational effort from the top of the box and the second from the penalty spot — who celebrated his brace by paying tribute to Kobe Bryant. Bryant, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, were involved in a helicopter crash that claimed the lives of everyone on board.
On Jan. 21, 2019, Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala passed away after his plane heading for Cardiff went down in the English Channel.
The 28-year-old was headed to Wales after his former club FC Nantes and Cardiff City agreed to a $20 million transfer for the striker. His body was recovered from the wreckage, but the pilot and only other person on the plane, David Ibbotson, was not found.
A year after the tragedy, Nantes has unveiled its Argentina-styled kit (Sala was from the village of Cululú) for an upcoming match against Bordeaux in remembrance of its former player.
Nathaël Julan, a 23-year-old striker for Guingamp, was killed in a car crash on Friday.
The French club confirmed the death, issuing the following statement:
“En Avant Guingamp is in mourning. The club had the immense pain of learning this afternoon, the accidental death of its player Nathael Julan. On this tragic day, all the members of the club join together to send their sad condolences to Nathael’s family.”
Just another day at the office for PSG sensation Kylian Mbappé on Wednesday. The 20-year-old scored his sixth goal in nine Ligue 1 games to keep PSG’s lead over second-place Marseille at five points. He also performed a shifty elastico and was asked by an opposing player to exchange shirts at halftime.
After finishing sixth in 2019 Ballon d’Or voting on Monday, the prodigy delighted fans inside the Parc des Princes by looking very much like El Fenomeno with this trick.
Fresh off a hamstring injury that cost him six games, 37 days and a myriad of hot takes, Neymar returned to the pitch on Friday for first-place PSG’s encounter with seventh-place Lille in Ligue 1.
In the midst of it all, it’s unfortunate how much the off-the-pitch noise engulfs the 27-year-old Brazilian. He’ll certainly never be Mexico’s cup of tea, but notwithstanding tribal feuds, he remains football’s second-best attraction behind Lionel Messi (I have all the time in the world for the Cristiano Ronaldo G.O.A.T. argument, but he's really not that fun to watch anymore).
It's no secret that David Beckham has been going after Edinson Cavani's signature for Major League Soccer expansion side Inter Miami CF, but it's now being reported that the LA Galaxy are trying to make a last-minute move for the Uruguayan striker.
Four days ago, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp ruled out a move for PSG’s Kylian Mbappé while lamenting the fact that no club could possibly afford the 20-year-old phenomenon. On Tuesday, Real Madrid reportedly said hold my beer and began preparing a $440 million bid for the World Cup winner.
On Monday, France Football (over the course of five ridiculous hours) released its 30-man shortlist for the 2019 Ballon d’Or prize, as well as a 20-player shortlist for the Ballon d'Or Féminin. Last year, Luka Modrić broke Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi’s combined 10-year stranglehold on the game’s most prestigious individual award, but Messi is again the favorite this year after leading Barcelona to the Spanish league title while capturing his sixth European Golden Shoe.