PARIS (Reuters) -Paris St Germain were held to a 3-3 draw at home to relegation-battling Le Havre on Saturday and will need to wait before confirming their 12th Ligue 1 title.
PSG would have clinched the title with three games to spare with a victory. They have a 12-point gap over second-placed AS Monaco, who are at Lyon on Sunday, and a goal difference of 47 to Monaco’s 18.
“We are almost champions. Mathematically no, I think we can say that,” PSG manager Luis Enrique told Canal+.
The away side opened the scoring in the 19th minute through Christopher Operi and PSG levelled 10 minutes later with Bradley Barcola scoring, but Le Havre went ahead again seven minutes before the break when Andre Ayew found the net.
Le Havre made it 3-1 with an Abdoulaye Toure penalty in the 61st minute, before Achrif Hakimi gave PSG hope with a goal 12 minutes from time and Goncalo Ramos levelled in added time. Le Havre are 15th on 29 points.
“We made some mistakes, but we tried a lot, we had chances. I think the supporters appreciated this kind of performance,” Luis Enrique added.
With one eye on PSG’s Champions League semi-final at Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, Luis Enrique named just one player from the midweek win over Lorient in his starting side, with Kylian Mbappe dropped to the bench.
PSG looked in control early on but it was not just the rain pouring down at Parc des Princes which dampened the atmosphere as the visitors threatened to spoil the party by twice going in front to lead at the break.
After soaking up all the early PSG pressure, a counter-attack ended with Emmanuel Sabbi’s pass finding the unmarked Operi who struck first time from just inside the area into the far bottom corner.
PSG drew level when Warren Zaire-Emery played a ball across the goal from the right which was tapped home at the far post by Barcola, his third league goal this season.
Le Havre struck again with Loic Nego hitting a clever backheel pass to Ayew who took a couple of touches to find space in the box and his shot took a slight deflection off Danilo Pereira before hitting the net.
Luis Enrique, wanting to celebrate the title win in front of the PSG fans, was forced into action at the break, with Mbappe, Lee Kang-In and Senny Mayulu all making their entrance.
The expected reaction failed to materialise and it was Le Havre who made it 3-1 when Pereira fouled Nego and Toure made no mistake from the spot.
Hakimi was put through one-on-one with the keeper and his goal brought the crowd to life again but they were left disappointed. Ramos found the net with a fabulous header to pull PSG level but there was no time to find a winner.
“It’s very important when a coach is able to transmit to his players his strength, his desire to fight, to never give up,” Luis Enrique said.
“We will try to finish the season in the best possible way.”
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; editing by Clare Fallon)
Source Agencies
