Paris Saint-Germain was held in check by a diligent and ultra-realistic Le Havre team (3-3) on the lawn of the Parc des Princes, this Saturday April 27. The Parisians are not yet officially champions of France for the 12th time in their history and will have to wait for the result of the match between Lyon and Monaco.
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The evening should have been perfect for PSG, who could have been crowned champions before their shock against Dortmund in the Champions League semi-final. But Le Havre, although relegated, came to play spoilsport at the Parc des Princes by demonstrating an impressive realism which made the Parisians suffer for a long time, finally coming to snatch a draw in added time (3-3).
Unsurprisingly, the Parisians confiscated the entry ball from Le Havre and began to settle on the edge of the opponent’s area. Despite good breakthroughs from Barcola and Dembélé, who were very restless during the first quarter of an hour, PSG initially came up against the Le Havre defensive block and even suffered a good counter-attack led by Casimir and Nego (9th). Against the run of play, Luka Elsner’s men opened the scoring with a cross shot from Ivorian defender Christopher Opéri who found the small net of Navas (19th, 0-1).
Put in difficulty by a Le Havre team inspired on every ball, the Parisians finally got back on track thanks to their men in form at the end of the season. On an action initiated by Dembélé, Zaire-Emery was able to find Barcola at the far post who finished from close range to equalize (29th, 1-1). Once again installed in the opposing area, the Ile-de-France residents lacked inspiration to take control of the match. On one of the rare balls recovered by Le Havre, Nego perfectly served the Ghanaian André Ayew with a backheel in the area, who then triggered a shot deflected by Danilo in front of a helpless Navas (38th, 1-2).
Le Havre very close to the feat
Suffering from the realism of Le Havre in the first period, PSG had to react to be crowned this weekend and look calmly towards their Champions League semi-final. Achraf Hakimi tried to restart the Parisian machine by taking the ball into the area (51st), before being caught by the Le Havre defense. Marquinhos also launched Kang-in Lee well to the right of the area, but the latter came up against the head of Lloris (53rd).
On their first opportunity of the second half, Le Havre once again cracked PSG by obtaining a penalty after a rough intervention by Danilo on Nego. Abdoulaye Touré then won his duel with Navas to give Le Havre a two-goal advantage (61st, 1-3). With their backs to the wall, PSG made multiple attempts to come back into the game, first with a curled shot from Vitinha (64th) then a strike from Mbappé (66th), who came on at half-time.
Hakimi finally came to reduce the score, helped by Ramos, to revive the hopes of the Parisians (78th, 2-3). The Portuguese did not go far from the equalizing goal a few minutes later but missed his shot in front of Desmas (84th). But while Le Havre was heading towards a feat on the Parc lawn, Gonçalo Ramos stood out at the best moment by equalizing at the end of added time with an unstoppable cross header (90th + 5, 3-3).
Very close to suffering its first defeat since September in Ligue 1, PSG narrowly preserves its series but will still have to wait to be officially crowned champion of France for the 12th time in its history. The Parisians can nevertheless win the title this Sunday, April 28 if Monaco leaves without a victory against Lyon. Like Dortmund, which sank against Leipzig (1-4) earlier in the afternoon in the Bundesliga, PSG suffered an unexpected setback before its shock against the Germans in the last four of the Champions League, May 1st.