Paris St Germain suffer first loss under Pochettino as Lille go top

PARIS: Paris St Germain fell to their first defeat under new coach Mauricio Pochettino, losing 3-2 at lowly Lorient to a goal in added time, as Lille moved top of Ligue 1 with a 1-0 home victory against Dijon on Sunday.

Champions PSG went ahead thanks to two Neymar penalties after Laurent Abergel's opener for Lorient, only for the hosts to equalise with 10 minutes left through YoaneWissa before securing the win in stoppage time with a TeremMoffi strike.

Playing a couple of hours later, Lille grabbed the opportunity to go top when Yusuf Yazici's first-half goal was enough to put them on 48 points from 22 games.

Olympique Lyonnais, who beat Girondins de Bordeaux 2-1 on Friday, are second on 46 points with PSG sliding to third one point further adrift.

Lille dominated throughout against Dijon and were rewarded in the 29th minute when Yazici recovered the ball in the area and beat goalkeeper Anthony Racioppi, who had previously made a couple of great saves, from close range.

Dijon are second-bottom on 15 points, three points behind Lorient and Nantes.

PSG had won four and drawn one of their games since Argentine Pochettino replaced the sacked Thomas Tuchel during the winter break but they had not looked impressive and Sunday's loss was therefore not too surprising.

They were without Marco Verratti and AbdouDiallo, who have been isolating after testing positive for COVID-19, and the Italian midfielder's absence was felt in particular.

Lorient went ahead against the run of play when Abergel dispossessed Danilo Pereira, standing in for Verratti, and fired the ball under the bar with a cross-shot in the 36th minute.

PSG hit back on the stroke of halftime as Neymar converted a penalty after being brought down by Houboulang Mendes.

Mendes was at fault again, with a foul on Mauro Icardi this time, as PSG won another penalty, which was coolly dispatched once more by Neymar in the 58th.

But Lorient levelled with 10 minutes left when Wissa fired past Sergio Rico after a one-two with fellow substitute Moffi.

Moffi then bagged all three points for Lorient after beating the offside trap for the fifth goal in his last five matches as PSG lost in the league for the first time in eight games and the first time in nine competitive matches.

Their last reverse was a 1-0 loss to Lyon in Ligue 1 on December 13. IANS

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