PSG Needs Stoppage-time Penalty To Draw With Rennes. American Balogun Scores In Monaco’s Win – News18

PARIS: Kylian Mbappé was kept quiet as French league leader Paris Saint-Germain needed a penalty from substitute Gonçalo Ramos seven minutes into stoppage time to scrape a 1-1 home draw with Rennes on Sunday.

It was Mbappé’s first game since he announced he is leaving PSG at the end of the season and the crowd did not jeer him at Parc des Princes.

Ramos came on for 21-goal league top scorer Mbappé midway through the second half, and scored from the spot after a video review ruled that goalkeeper Steve Mandanda had fouled him.

That decision came after another video review overturned a penalty and ruled that Ramos had not been fouled in the 84th minute.

Mandanda made two fine saves for Rennes, which scored through Amine Gouiri’s excellent solo goal in the 33rd minute.

The lively forward ran at the defense from some 30 meters out, skipped past Vitinha, put the ball through Danilo’s legs and then beat goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma with the outside of his foot.

PSG only just avoided its second league defeat this season, which was at home against Nice in September.

The draw cut PSG’s big lead to 11 points over second-place Brest. Improving Rennes is in seventh place.

In Sunday’s late game, Marseille hosted Montpellier.

In the lunchtime match, American forward Folarin Balogun scored early and missed a late penalty before his teammate Takumi Minamino reprieved him with an injury-time goal as Monaco won 3-2 at Lens to move up to third place.

Goalkeeper Brice Samba saved Balogun’s 82nd-minute penalty, which was awarded after Balogun was fouled in a French league thriller.

Lens rallied from 2-0 down but conceded in the second minute of stoppage time, when Minamino’s fine shot from the right found the left corner.

The 22-year-old Balogun put Monaco in front in the 19th minute when he controlled a long pass with his head, beat a defender and finished coolly past Samba. It was only his fifth league goal since an offseason move from Premier League Arsenal, having netted 21 times on loan to Reims last season.

Samba’s own-goal in the 30th following a speculative shot from striker Wissam Ben Yedder put Monaco in control, but Monaco’s defensive lapses have been commonplace and Lens hit back through strikers Elye Wahi and Wesley Saïd.

Monaco is one point ahead of French Riviera rival Nice, which surprisingly drew 0-0 at home to last-place Clermont, while Lille stayed in fifth spot after losing 3-1 at Toulouse despite taking the lead.

Also, eighth-place Reims won 2-1 at Le Havre.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Associated Press)