A late Goncalo Ramos goal saved Ligue 1 leaders Paris St Germain from a home defeat to bottom-of-table Clermont in a 1-1 draw at Parc des Princes on Saturday, after PSG manager Luis Enrique sent out a fully changed side but needed Kylian Mbappe late on.
PSG, with one league loss all season, is on 63 points, 13 ahead of second-placed Brest who plays Metz on Sunday. Clermont remains bottom on 21 points, two behind Metz.
PSG went in at the break a goal down after Habib Keita scored in the 32nd minute, but the home side, helped by Mbappe’s appearance later on, salvaged a point with five minutes left through Ramos.
Enrique named a completely different starting line-up to the team that beat Rennes 1-0 in the Coupe de France semifinal on Wednesday, with one eye clearly on next week’s Champions League quarterfinal tie with Barcelona.
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“My aim was to send out a competitive starting 11, which we did, with many international players,” the PSG manager said afterwards.
“We had players out there who I knew wouldn’t be thinking about the next game.”
Yoram Zague made his PSG debut and another 17-year-old, Senny Mayulu, started his first game for the club after making three substitute appearances earlier this season.
“I congratulate everyone who played, but especially Yoram and Senny, because they are homegrown players and they were superb,” Enrique said.
The first half brought plenty of PSG possession, but they failed to carve out any clear-cut chances apart from a shot by Achraf Hakimi saved by the leg of keeper Massamba Ndiaye, which turned out to be PSG’s only shot on target in the opening half.
Instead, it was Clermont who took a shock lead after Milan Skriniar failed to deal with a long ball into the box allowing Yohann Magnin to get a cross back into the area.
Alan Virginius collected the cross and got his pass away to Keita, whose shot was deflected in.
PSG thought it had found an equaliser at the end of the first half when Mayulu struck a beautiful shot from distance, but the goal was ruled out after a VAR check for a foul in the build-up.
It was all PSG after the break, Hakimi hitting the crossbar and Clermont’s keeper saving from Randal Kolo Muani, but with no goals coming, after 67 minutes it was time for Mbappe to make his entrance, and his 300th appearance for the club.
Marquinhos also came on, to equal Jean-Marc Pilorget’s record of 435 games played with PSG.
Mbappe didn’t have to wait long for his first chance. Hakimi’s shot from distance was saved by the keeper, Ramos somehow hit the bar from the rebound followed by Mbappe heading into the keeper’s arms.
Ramos had a header tipped over by Ndiaye but was not to be denied after a one-two with Mbappe, whose pass sent Ramos through one-on-one with the keeper and he buried his low shot into the far corner.
PSG couldn’t find a winner, however, and for the second time this season it was held to a draw by Clermont, which probably won’t stop PSG winning its 12th Ligue 1 championship, and may not be enough to save Clermont from relegation.
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