After four goals in the first 35 minutes, Lyon and Monaco slowed down in the second half, and looked to be coasting toward a 2-2 draw.
Lyon's Nabil Fekir, who already had a goal in the game, decided the 2-2 scoreline wasn't to his liking and ripped a free kick past Monaco's wall and goalkeeper in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
What a way to win a game pic.twitter.com/tOSbONw5n4
France, fresh off a successful albeit ultimately disappointing Euro 2016, secured automatic qualification to the 2018 World Cup after defeating Belarus 2-1 on Tuesday. Goals from Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud confirmed France’s passage from a tricky UEFA qualifying group also containing Sweden, the Netherlands and Bulgaria.
How much of Hatem Ben Arfa’s enfant terrible reputation is deserved? It’s impossible to say, because we don’t know the man. However, with only one-year remaining on his Paris Saint-Germain contract, it’s become clear that Ben Arfa’s exit from the French capital is going to look a lot like his exits from Lyon, Marseille, Newcastle United and Hull City.
When PSG agreed to shell out a reported $528 million total for Neymar Jr. (a $263 million transfer fee, plus a five-year, $265 million contract) many people thought the club was crazy. If they're crazy, perhaps they're crazy like a fox. So far for PSG, in only eight appearances, Neymar has racked up eight goals, seven assists and six man of the match ratings. This week, we saw a beautiful Neymar free kick from 35 yards out.
Meet your new favorite player: 20-year-old Nice winger Allan Saint-Maximin has everything you could ask for in a dynamic young attacker. He's pacy, skilled, smart and not afraid to try cool stuff.
Watch him turn into a one-man counterattack against Vitesse Arnhem in the Europa League on Thursday.
First things first before we move on to lesser talking points: there was no penalty awarded to PSG on Wednesday, but Neymar and Edinson Cavani took turns on direct free kicks. They also shared moments of slightly frigid tenderness, Cavani comforting Neymar after a terrible miss and Neymar belatedly arriving to congratulate Cavani on his superbly taken goal.
In many ways, Julian Draxler is the forgotten man at Paris Saint-Germain. With Neymar’s massive transfer fee, Kylian Mbappe’s incredible potential and Edinson Cavani’s missed penalty kicks, the German playmaker has started just two of six matches this season. Fortunately, someone remembered Draxler’s birthday.
On the back of Sunday’s Ligue 1 fiasco which saw Paris Saint-Germain beat a French opponent by only two goals, Edinson Cavani moved quickly to dismiss the simmering rumors of an irrevocable fallout between himself and new boy Neymar.
Let’s be honest, we’ve probably just witnessed the most calamitous weekend Paris Saint-Germain will suffer all season in France’s Ligue 1. No PSG player was able to get on the scoresheet in their match against Lyon on Sunday, but the Parisian club still managed to win 2-0 by forcing two own goals to maintain their perfect start to the season.
Paris Saint-Germain almost broke the internet on Friday by announcing a starting XI against Metz that took all of the world’s money to assemble, including Neymar ($263M), Kylian Mbappe ($220M), Edinson Cavani ($77M) and Julian Draxler ($48M). Metz, by comparison, turned to Newcastle United flop Emmanuel Riviere.