Paris Saint-Germain's winning streak comes to an end in Ligue 1
Missin' Messi and Neymar, PSG falters against Lens on Sunday
In the heart of French Ligue 1 action, the Parisian giants faced Lens without their stars Lionel Messi (still celebrating Argentina's World Cup triumph) and Neymar (sidelined following a red card incident against Strasbourg). Since their last loss in March, this was PSG's first failure in 32 games.
Five minutes into the game, Przemyslaw Frankovski scored the opening goal for Lens, as Gianluigi Donnarumma managed to parry but failed to clear the ball, leaving an inviting opportunity for Frankovski. PSG answered swiftly with Hugo Ekitike scoring a swift counterattack goal, tying the game at 1-1.
The tide turned midway through the first half when Loïs Openda blazed past PSG's defense and placed the ball past Donnarumma, putting Lens ahead 2-1. Openda sealed the deal with a stunning solo goal to assist an Alexis Claude-Maurice effort, making it 3-1 in favor of Lens.
The result leaves Lens unbeaten at home this season and only four points behind PSG at the league summit.
Lens celebrates after a hard-fought victory against Paris Saint-Germain.
Christophe Galtier, PSG's coach, was less than pleased with their team's lackluster performance saying, "We made too many mistakes against a deserving Lens team. Even as we tried to fight back, we had chances to equalize, but we were out of control for the first time this season. I'm not sure why, but we'll discuss it with the involved players and review different aspects of our game."
Although Lens was forced to share points with Nizza on a Thursday match, they've maintained an unbeaten run in their last seven league matches, positioning themselves to take on PSG again.
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