Tag: PSG

PARIS: Kylian Mbappe will miss Paris Saint-Germain’s first Ligue 1 outing of the new season this weekend against Clermont with an adductor injury, his club said on Friday.

PSG announced that Mbappe had been left out of the squad that would travel to Clermont for Saturday’s game “due to pain in his adductor muscles” and will instead remain behind for treatment.

“A further update will be provided in 72 hours time.”

Mbappe already missed PSG’s 4-0 win over Nantes in the French season-opening Champions Trophy in Tel-Aviv, Israel last weekend due to a suspension carried over from the last campaign.

PSG begin their defence of the Ligue 1 title with a new coach, Christophe Galtier having taken over from the sacked Mauricio Pochettino.

Lionel Messi and Neymar, who both scored against Nantes, are in the squad along with new signings Vitinha, Hugo Ekitike and Nordi Mukiele.

However, there is no place for the Qatar-owned club’s most recent recruit, with Portuguese international midfielder Renato Sanches not featuring in the list of 21 players announced on Friday.

Sanches only arrived on Thursday from Lille for a reported fee of 15 million euros ($15.25m).

Galtier, who led Lille to the Ligue 1 title in 2021, said he was eager for the season to start.

“We do this job to compete and experience all the emotions,” Galtier admitted.

“Training sessions and interviews are one thing, but we live for competition.”

He added: “When PSG go away from home it is often the biggest game of the season for the home team and the stadiums are full.

“We want to start the season in the best possible manner.”

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MADRID: The Spanish League LaLiga has filed a complaint to UEFA against Paris Saint-Germain for the breach of financial fair play rules adding to a similar complaint it had filed earlier against Manchester City, it announced on Wednesday.

LaLiga believed that the French Club have broken the financial fair play regulations when it offered a new multi-million pounds contract to its striker Kylian Mbappe, which convinced him to decline the offer of the Spanish club Real Madrid.

The Spanish League has already filed a similar complaint against Manchester City in April, objecting that club has continuously failed to comply with the rules.

Since then, the Premier League club has also confirmed the signing of Erling Haaland for £51.2m from the German club Borussia Dortmund. Real Madrid was also interested in signing Haaland.

“LaLiga considers that these practices alter the ecosystem and the sustainability of football, harm all European clubs and leagues, and only serve to artificially inflate the market with money not generated in soccer itself,” the Spanish league said in a statement.

LaLiga further alleged that the irregular financing of both the clubs was carried out either through direct money injection or through sponsorship or other contracts that did not correspond to market conditions or made economic sense.

The Spanish league had already tried to sanction PSG and Man City by UEFA in the past. In 2017 and 2018, it also filed charges against them for violating financial fair play guidelines.

UEFA sanctioned Man City a two-year ban from the Champions League in 2020 for “serious breaches” of FFP rules following an investigation. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the ban.

Meanwhile, UEFA closed another financial fair play investigation against PSG in 2018 without imposing any sanctions. In 2014, both Man City and PSG were fined 20 million euros by the football’s governing body following the FFP breaches.

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MADRID: Real Madrid enjoyed the perfect preparation for Paris Saint-Germain by thrashing Real Sociedad 4-1 on Saturday to move eight points clear at the top of La Liga.

Madrid had to come from behind at the Santiago Bernabeu as two scintillating long-range strikes from Eduardo Camavinga and Luka Modric turned the game on its head, before a Karim Benzema penalty and a tap-in for Marco Asensio completed an emphatic victory.

Camavinga’s strike, his second goal for Madrid, was timely given the 19-year-old may have to start against PSG on Wednesday, with Toni Kroos, absent here, struggling with a hamstring strain.

“Camavinga is definitely an option,” said Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti.

Madrid are tasked with overturning a 1-0 deficit from the first leg in Paris if they are to reach the quarter-finals.

At the end of the game and with the stadium mostly empty, Madrid’s players came back out onto the pitch to salute the ultras behind the goal.

“The thanks to the fans was an idea that came from the players,” said Ancelotti. “After this game, they believe more in what we can do on Wednesday.”

Everything seems easier with the 36-year-old Modric, whose own wonder-goal was the highlight of another mesmeric display, for which he earned a standing ovation from the home crowd in the second half.

Kylian Mbappe, Lionel Messi and Neymar will provide a sterner test for Madrid’s back four in midweek but this was a particularly encouraging performance from Ancelotti’s attack, which was far more dynamic after struggling for goals in recent weeks.

Benzema looks sharp again after recovering from his own hamstring injury last month. Benzema has three goals in his last three games and had two disallowed against Real before finally scoring from the spot.

The victory extends Madrid’s advantage at the top of La Liga after second-placed Sevilla were held to a goalless draw by Alaves on Friday night.

Real Sociedad could have gone third with a win but they stay sixth, with qualification for the Europa League looking more realistic now than the Champions League.

Real Madrid started sloppily and paid for it after David Silva’s touch and the shift was too quick for Dani Carvajal, who caught the midfielder’s trailing right foot.

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Paris: Lionel Messi suffered his first defeat as a Paris Saint-Germain player on Sunday as their perfect start to the Ligue 1 season ended with a 2-0 loss at Rennes.

The Argentina star smacked the crossbar with a free-kick in the first half at Roazhon Park before Gaetan Laborde volleyed Rennes ahead just before the break with his league-leading sixth goal.

Flavien Tait struck less than 20 seconds after half-time to double the lead, with Kylian Mbappe seeing a goal ruled out for offside as Rennes snapped PSG’s eight-match winning run in the league this term.

“We didn’t start the match well but then we played the best 25-30 minutes of the season. It’s a shame we didn’t score. We conceded two goals that were hard to take,” said PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino.

PSG lost in the league for the first time since April, when they were beaten 1-0 at home by last season’s eventual champions Lille.

“In general, I’m satisfied, we created a lot of chances. Rennes scored with their first and the goal had a big emotional impact,” said Pochettino.

“I don’t like to lose, there’s a bit of anger. To go 2-0 down after a good period… We’re disappointed not to have finished off what we had. It leaves us a bit bitter and disappointed.”

Messi lined up alongside Neymar, Mbappe and Angel Di Maria for just the second match, making only his second league start for PSG after missing the past two Ligue 1 games with a knee injury.

Gianluigi Donnarumma again got the nod ahead of Keylor Navas in goal, having kept a clean sheet midweek in PSG’s Champions League win over Manchester City.

Looking to keep pace with the team that won its opening 14 games under Thomas Tuchel in 2018, PSG created a series of chances midway through the first half — all of which went to waste.

Woodwork denies Messi

Neymar skied horribly after the ball broke kindly to the Brazilian inside the Rennes area and Mbappe was guilty of another glaring miss when he scooped over after getting in behind the home defence.

Messi, who bagged a spectacular first goal PSG against City on Tuesday, nearly got off the mark in Ligue 1 but watched his curling free-kick from 25 yards clatter the bar on the half-hour.

Rennes goalkeeper Alfred Gomis crucially stuck out a hand to deny Neymar a tap-in as Di Maria squared across the six-yard box, and PSG paid the price for their missed opportunities on the stroke of half-time.

Kamaldeen Sulemana whipped in a cross from the left which was thumped beyond Donnarumma by Laborde, a deadline day signing from Montpellier.

Rennes, who spent 80 million euros ($92.6 million) on new signings in the summer — more than anyone in France including PSG — caught the visitors cold right at the start of the second half to make it 2-0.

Laborde, released down the right, pulled back for Tait to sweep in first time — the goal upheld after a VAR check for offside, and greeted by a deafening roar from a full house of close to 30,000 once it was confirmed.

Sulemana fired a ferocious drive narrowly over but PSG appeared to have pulled one back when Mbappe squeezed beyond Gomis, only for it to be chalked off upon review.

It could have been worse for Pochettino’s side had a penalty awarded to Rennes not been overturned in the closing stages after replays exonerated Achraf Hakimi from a foul on Laborde.

Instead PSG, who stay six points clear of second-placed Lens, must now reset after the international break that will see Messi and Neymar jet off to South America for a gruelling series of three World Cup qualifiers.

Aurelien Tchouameni scored against his former club as Monaco beat Bordeaux 3-0 and Nantes won 2-0 at home to Troyes.

Angers twice came from behind to defeat Metz 3-2 while Lorient and Clermont drew 1-1.

Lille host Marseille later on Sunday before winless Saint-Etienne take on bitter derby rivals Lyon.